To MSS and Beyond:
Financial Literacy as MSS Supplement
“Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a household to save money and you help them for a lifetime.”
By: Jessica Wolff, 1st year Thies CED Volunteer
Yes, I know that's not quite how the idiom goes, but this has been the inciting idea behind my extension of the Michele Sylvester Scholarship program this summer. In addition to running the typical MSS program which funds inscription fees and school supplies for nine stellar middle school girls, I will be teaching a mini-financial literacy course to the parents of all my students.
During the required home visits, I will sit with my girls’ parents to discuss how important it is to plan ahead for big expenses – especially when payment of school inscription fees coincides almost exactly with Tabaski this year.
Depending on how many children in the house will be attending school in the upcoming year, we will develop a personalized savings plan. These plans can be as basic as putting 200 FCFA into a box each week and committing to using those funds only for inscription fees, or as in-depth as identifying all household expenses and discussing which will be reduced in order to allow for the full payment of inscription fees.
Household expenses are a topic often not discussed simply because many families have such limited means. However, my hope is that if the family discussion is not only about the continuation of female education, but also about the value of financial planning and how it can ease financial strain, then these families will benefit from the MSS program this year and for years to come.
Perspectives on Girls Camp:
A PCV Experience
By: Erin Kelly, 2nd year Kaffrine SusAg Volunteer
1. What was your role during camp?
I was the co-coordinator for leadership games. Every morning we did basic icebreaker/introduction and leadership games like the human knot, trust falls, obstacle courses, etc., so the girls could bond, learn about working as a team, and learn how to support one another.
2. What was your favorite game with the girls?
I loved games where we gave them basic instructions and they had to problem-solve as a team, like in the human knot.
3. What was the hardest part?
Explaining the games in Wolof! As Americans, we’re so used to playing warm-up games that it’s easy for us to organize ourselves. This is definitely not the same for most teenage Senegalese girls! Getting them organized, excited, and checking their comprehension was more difficult than we expected. Once they got the hang of it though, the girls loved it!
Something else I wasn’t prepared for was how to console crying Senegalese girls.
My host family doesn’t encourage crying in public, so when some of the girls at the camp started tearing up during some sessions, I wasn’t sure how to handle it. I learned the hard way that calling attention to crying or emotion isn’t the best way to deal with the situation. I now feel much more prepared for correctly responding to Senegalese grief and sadness.
4. Will you be involved next year? Definitely! I’m one of the co-coordinators for next year’s camp, so if anyone has any great ideas for classes or activities get in touch!
5. What is your favorite memory of camp? Our informal motto of the week was "jambaar yu jigeen mo fii nekk, yeen nepp! (Women are warriors and they are here, everybody!)” The night before camp ended it rained heavily, so as we were trying to leave the next morning, our cumbersome alham buses kept getting stuck in the muddy road. Every time a bus got stuck, 38 teenage girls in florescent pink t-shirts would emerge from inside and push them out of the mud, chanting, "Jambaar yu jigeen mo fii nekk, yeen nepp!" It was pretty incredible to see how connected they felt as a team and they felt powerful enough to push these huge buses.