This month, I visited the families of the youth served by the MindLeaps program in Conakry. I understood and felt the pain that each child has living within these difficult conditions. These children have all the same desires to learn and flourish in life as other, “normal” children, but truly lack the means.
We give supplies to each of the children’s families in our program. This includes sacks of rice, basic clothing and other food stuffs. These items are necessities, the most elementary things families need. I can finally understand what it actually means to give people “the basic necessities of life”, and it also gives me a chance to ask our students what they are learning and their impressions of our program.
I was particularly interested in the story of Aissatou Tounkara. She is 16 years old. She joined our program this past July. When I asked her if she had every used a computer, she responded :
When I was little, I touched a computer once. And, I was so eager when you told us there will be IT in this program. Since we started these courses, I have come every day. And today, we are “in the world”. I have learned so many things, like how to write a letter and do formatting. They also show us how to print. Now I can write a letter and print it. I dream of owning my own computer so I won’t forget anything that I have learned. But if it wasn’t for here, I don’t know how I could touch a computer.
Tomorrow we are going to start learning Excel. The teacher told us that we can make tables and do calculations. I am really anxious to see what t
ype of calculations I can do with Excel.
I also want to learn the Internet, to be able to go onto Facebook and have friends with Internet accounts. I hope I will have the chance at some point to learn more about the Internet. I am praying for this.
Because of people with big hearts around the world, MindLeaps is able to provide this humanitarian service. To all of the sponsors and donors – whether they are companies or individuals – I can tell you simply “thank you” from these children and me.
Ansoumane Conde is the Country Director of MindLeaps Guinea.