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Mali: a story of positive change

Name: Rokia Sidibé
Age : 15 years old
Village: Fougatiè
District
: Yalancoro -soloba
Region: Sikasso
Income: Market gardening

Rokia Sidibé, a 15-year-old girl who is very active in gold panning sites, was identified by Enda-Mali in the framework of the WNCB programme to participate in the training of young people who have been removed from gold panning mines four months ago. She comes from the village of Fougatiè and is a member of the youth association of the said village.

Rokia used to commute between the gold panning sites of the commune and the village’s rural work, and also did domestic work in the village. “Before the WNCB project, I had never had the chance to take part in a training course. In such a short time, I had the know-how and I was able to do well,” she testifies. “The technical training really improved my skills as a learner.”

“Immediately after the training I wanted to be with my parents in the market garden to apply what I had learned and abandon the gold panning sites. This is why, since we finished the training and received financial support from the project, I have been practising gardening like the other young women in the village; the garden is collective but each one has her own planks. In reality I preferred to work in agriculture rather than to go to the gold panning sites all day long with little assurance of being able to earn enough money to pay for my work.

Thank God since the end of the training we have had the courage to call the trainers to tell them about the difficulties and ask for advice, which works well.  I like this market gardening activity and I ask other young people of my age to do like me because working in gold panning sites is very risky and the gain is uncertain. I am very grateful to the project for giving such a chance to the young people of my commune and I hope that the project will continue in other villages in my commune to give a chance to my other brothers and sisters who did not have the chance to participate in the training.”

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