Mariatu Conteh

ID: SLGM003

Country: Sierra Leone

My birthday is 2010-07-01

Status: Paternal Orphan

I want to be a tailor.

I enjoy playing tag.

My favorite subject is art.

Mariatu's father passed away from an illness when she was 7. She lives with her mother who is able to do small trading for their daily survival. Mariatu is one of 4 children, and her mother struggles to provide for them as a newly single parent. Mariatus's mother works very hard to send her children to school, but often she does not have enough to pay the balance in full and Mariatu is asked out of school until the balance is paid. Mariatu has completed Class 2, but has not been able to learn consistently due to sitting out of school for extended periods. Thanks to her sponsorship, she has been able to continue her education.

Most parents struggle to provide their families with more than one meal a day, so the cost to send their children to school is not easy to come by. Typically, those who can afford to send one or two of their children to school will choose to send only their sons. Girls whose parents cannot afford to send them to school will be left at home to tend to daily chores, and their smaller siblings while the parents are away earning their daily wages. This lack of education and supervision makes girls just entering adolescence very vulnerable to teenage pregnancy. Girls who have not been given access to education are often left with no option but to marry at young ages to be financially supported by their husbands.

 

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