This is my granddaughter, Fatou “M’Baye” Mara. She is Abdoulaye’s oldest daughter’s oldest child. They live in Conakry, Guinea, in West Africa. Guinea is a beautiful country, with close to zero economic opportunity for the majority of its residents. M’Baye recently completed the equivalent of a high school degree and was accepted into a business administration program in Quebec. Being able to obtain an education outside of the country is a really big deal and a huge opportunity for her. Few young girls in Guinea have an opportunity like this.

Tuition for the program is $15,000 (Canadian), the equivalent of about $11,000 US dollars at today’s exchange rate. We have identified housing for her with a family member, and she hopes to work part-time while attending class. In addition to her tuition, she will need a plane ticket (estimate $2,000), daily living expenses such as food and transportation, a laptop, textbooks ($640), and much warmer clothes and shoes for the Canadian winter than anything she owns now.

M'Baye is a delightful young woman- smart, spunky, funny, competent, talented, helpful, responsible, and joyful. In this video she says she would like to study in Canada because today it is one of best countries in the world with a a peaceful and favorable education for foreign students. She would like to study business administration because she would like to start her own business and become a businesswoman in human society.

We have tried over the years without success to find a way to bring her to the US, and now she has the opportunity to go to Canada.

M'Baye has never known her father and her mother sells fabric in the market. We are not in a position right now to come up with the full amount needed for her to take advantage of this opportunity and are welcoming donations from anyone who would be interested in making a contribution toward defraying expenses. I know some of you are committed to the advancement of girls and women around the world, and assisting with this one specific girl’s educational opportunity is one way to make a difference. No donation is too small- they all add up. Thank you for considering. Please share if you know like-minded others. Thank you.