Fatoumata
Location: Conakry, Guinea
Age: 10
Hobbies: Playing games with her friends
Sponsorship need: Primary School ($500)
Fatoumata might be small in size, but she has a huge personality.
Fatoumata is a little student in physical size, but she has a huge personality. She has never been to school because of extreme poverty and only gets to eat food once a day. Despite these challenges, she is a leader in her class, very independent and hard working. She sets the tone of the class, especially in diagonal (you can see her demonstrating the diagonal in the photo above). Her favorite dance exercise is in diagonal: “2 tendus, 2 jetes, 2 battements”. In addition to the dance classes at MindLeaps, she also loves learning English. Her dream for the future is to become a tailor one day.
Fatoumata’s story.
Fatoumata, 13, comes from a large family of seven children and is now living with her grandmother. With limited means, it was difficult for her family to keep up with school fees. Fatoumata was in 5th grade when schools closed due to the COVID-19 lockdown, and after the lockdown was lifted, her grandmother enrolled her in the MindLeaps program in December 2020.
Fatoumata is enthusiastic about her classes and gets to the center early every day to have the breakfast provided to the kids in the program. She especially loves her English and dance classes. She works hard and has quickly become the top student in her dance class. Fatoumata is relatively new to the program, so still has a lot to learn in terms of technique. But because she’s so committed and continues to push herself, her teacher sees potential for her to eventually join the MindLeaps Performance Group. To encourage her further, her instructor has taken her to practice sessions, so she can see what it takes to be part of the group. She says she’d love to join, and seeing the practice sessions has given her a goal to aim for.
She’s also doing very well in her other MindLeaps classes – ranking first in French and second in English. Fatoumata wants to go back to school and says her dream is to one day become a doctor.
Fatoumata is enthusiastic about her classes and gets to the center early every day to have the breakfast provided to the kids in the program. She especially loves her English and dance classes. She works hard and has quickly become the top student in her dance class. Fatoumata is relatively new to the program, so still has a lot to learn in terms of technique. But because she’s so committed and continues to push herself, her teacher sees potential for her to eventually join the MindLeaps Performance Group. To encourage her further, her instructor has taken her to practice sessions, so she can see what it takes to be part of the group. She says she’d love to join, and seeing the practice sessions has given her a goal to aim for.
She’s also doing very well in her other MindLeaps classes – ranking first in French and second in English. Fatoumata wants to go back to school and says her dream is to one day become a doctor.
Support Fatoumata: www.mindleaps.org/donate
