Rural Girls' Scholarship Fund, Burundi

Summer is here and the high school girls in Butanuka, Burundi have finished their exams and are looking forward to summer break. Here at Dreaming for Change US, we are raising funds to support forty-five girls during the coming school year. Thank you to all who donated during the past year. We hope you will be willing to sponsor one or more of our girls for the coming year. Eighty dollars provides school fees, school supplies, a uniform skirt and sanitary supplies for one girl. Young women who complete high school can look forward to more economic security throughout their lives than their peers who do not complete high school. Education of mothers is also correlated to better educational achievement for their children. To build peaceful, economically prosperous communities, we need educated citizens. 







Dreaming for Change 
High school should be a time to focus on learning, sports, friends, clubs and thinking about one's future--college and career. Right? Not so for many girls in the rural province of Butanuka, Burundi. These girls face social, economic, and health challenges due to the complex issues of poverty, cultural practices (such as child marriage) and gender inequality. The attitudes of parents, teachers, and classmates may discourage the girls, as well. 

The Rural Girls' Scholarship Program targets high school girls at risk of dropping out. The program is administered by Dreaming for Change, a non-profit organization in the village of Butanuka. Together parents, teachers, school leaders, and Dreaming for Change staff are helping girls thrive in school. The program director, Gloria Niwemahoro, meets with the girls monthly to encourage them to do their best in school, take pride in themselves, and encourage each other. During these safe meetings the girls share experiences, reducing their isolation and vulnerability. 

For the 2020-2021 school year we hope to give scholarships to 45 girls. 
The program supports girls in four ways:
*Paying school fees directly to the principal of each girl's school 
*Providing copy books, pens, school bags, and uniforms
*Providing sanitary pads and education on menstrual hygiene
*Providing mentorship to encourage girls and build their self-confidence

The Rural Girls' Scholarship Program was launched in early March, 2020 when Connie Green and Barry Thomas (board members of Dreaming for Change) visited Butanuka and met some of the girls. They learned about the reasons many girls drop out of high school: lack of bathrooms and sanitary pads, pregnancy and/or early marriage, and fathers' unwillingness or inability to pay school fees. 

A donation of $80 will support one girl for the coming school year. You also might donate $40 for the first half of the year and $40 by Jan. 1, 2021.

We hope that in a few years we will learn that one of our scholarship girls will be the first woman in the Mpanda district to graduate from university!

For more information, visit Dreaming for Change .