French, arithmetics and what else?

The indigenous girls being taught in the Lekoumou will learn to write, read and count in French. These girls, most of whom speak “Yaka”, the local dialect they share with the bantu people, will communicate more with their bantu peers.

The project which is financed by V-day is well and truly up and running. We followed the advice we were given by consultants from Population Council who’d helped Pascaline and Blanche to set up a multi-part project to promote the rights of indigenous girls.

A few teaching methods have been put into place to teach spelling and sums to the girls. So, for example, it is necessary to use an accessible language while using visuals that are appropriate to the learners’ culture and environment.

Advocacy has already been undertaken to present and explain the project to the departmental literacy coordinator and the department sub-prefect. The initiative was well received by the heads of the primary schools in Indo, Makubi and Sibiti. This will therefore facilitate the enrolment of the indigenous girls in these schools for the October start of the academic year 2009-2010.

It is obvious that in the Lekoumou department, indigenous girls are still ignored in the schooling process. The population gives the same barriers over and over again: Poverty and the Bantus’ discrimination.

But in the chosen education centres things are moving forward. All the benches and other equipments (boards and chalk) are ready. The project has acquired a motorbike to facilitate the teachers' transport around the 30 kilometres of Sibiti. That’s, at the moment, the only mean of transport available to AZUR Développement who is begging other partners for a vehicle.

What else? The project is planning to hold training sessions on reproductive health and the fight against violence towards girls in the chosen training centres.

With the support of the Rainforest Information Centre of Australia, we will also set up training sessions and learning activities on the promotion and protection of the environment with the 125 indigenous girls participating in the project. We are grateful for the support of our partners in the complementarity of the projects.

Stay connected on our blog and read about the progress of this project!

Roméo Mbengou & Sylvie Niombo

Translated from French to English by Frédérique Taylor