US EMBASSY LOME AWARDED GRANT TO PATHWAYS TOGO TO SUPPORT UNIVERSITY PROGRAM

Pathways Togo was awarded a grant from the US Embassy Lomé to expand our support for 63 university students! The grant includes support for our existing 21 university scholars and 12 new Pathways Champions - university students who will be supported through the grant on a year to year basis. It also includes expanding our university scholar workshops to 40 additional university students. The first workshop was held November 24 to 26, and included a training on computer basics, distance learning applications, and general orientation to university with individualized guidance to scholars based on their professional objectives. The scholars also had the honor of meeting US Embassy Lomé staff which officially launched the partnership!

We want to thank the US Embassy Lomé for this amazing opportunity and for their commitment to women’s empowerment in Togo! Educate women, empower the world!
 

 

The university scholars also received encouragement from their fellow university scholar - Mounira - who performed a poetry “slam." She is a third year university student studying American Literature. She is the eldest of her family and the hope of her entire community. Her dream is to become a bilingual journalist. Her words capture the struggle our scholars face in pursuit of education and the amazing resilience, courage and heart it takes to succeed despite the odds and the "dream breakers" in their lives.  See below for the full lyrics of her poem as well as links to watch her performance on Instagram and/or YouTube.

 

Our scholar, Yanou, just returned to Togo after earning her Doctorate in Medicine from the Latin American School of Medicine in Cuba! We are very proud of her!! She sent us the following message upon her return:
Hello Dear Donors,
I am really delighted to see you sharing my joy at having successfully completed my 7 years of medical studies. Thank you very much from the bottom of my heart for your support and encouragement.
Regarding my short-term plans, I intend to leave Lomé shortly to visit my family who are in Blitta. And then come back to settle in Lomé since in the long term, I plan to continue my studies in a specialty and I want to specialize in: Cardiology.
Thank you so much.
Yanou
Until Yanou received a Pathways Togo scholarship, her mother paid her school fees while Yanou sold fruit on the street to pay for books and school supplies. Despite these efforts, she still could not afford all of her books. The support from Pathways Togo allowed Yanou to focus on her studies and have all the books and supplies she needed to succeed. And WOW! Did she succeed! Her hard work and support from Pathways Togo took her all the way to medical school on the other side of the world! And now she is home and plans to serve in Togo which has a critical need for doctors!  She is now serving as an intern at the biggest hospital in Togo - CHU Sylvanus Olympio. We are over the moon for her!
 

GETTING READY FOR NEXT CLUSTER OF SCHOLARS IN CENTRAL REGION
 
From January 10^th to 20^th, 2022, The middle and high school Program Administrator, Grace Attignon, conducted a mission to the Central region, specifically to Kamboli, Djarkpanga, Cessaro and Blitta, to begin preparations for the selection of new scholars in the clusters.  At the end of the mission, Grace met with 65 education partners in addition to the Inspectors or their representatives.
During the visits, the community leaders and girls she visited were informed about the importance of girls' education.  In addition, informational letters about the Pathways Togo selection process were sent to the school principals in the targeted localities. All of them unanimously welcomed the noble vision of the organization, and approved that we select girls in the Central region by allowing us to conduct the visits to identified sites and mobilize school directors to identify scholars that deserve Pathways Togo's support.
At the Kamboli and Blitta sites, we had the support and testimony of school directors who had previously worked with Pathways Togo scholars. This allowed them to convince many girls about the quality of Pathways Togo scholarship program for girls' education. In Djarkpanga, we invited the principal of the Bolkatanga kindergarten, who is a Pathways Togo alumnae working in the area. This was an opportunity for her to thank donors who contributed to her social integration today and motivate young girls to strive for excellence in order to benefit from the Pathways Togo scholarship. One of our current scholar's mentors, who lives in the area, also gave her testimony on her roles and responsibilities as an official Pathways Togo mentor. She insisted not only on the voluntary nature of mentoring but also on the need for mentors to be available to respond to scholars' requests and needs at any time. These different testimonies greatly impacted the partners of the Kamboli and led to a better understanding of the qualities and skills needed to become Pathways Togo scholars' mentors.
We are proud that we received the support and acceptance of the community local authorities in the different localities we visited. NGO partners like Plan Togo, NGO Dimension Humaine, COGERES and Teachers Parents Association leaders and Women Leaders were instrumental to the success of the process.
By the end of February 2022 we will collect applications from the clusters visited and score them in March. Stay connected to see the 22 young girls who will be awarded the scholarship during the summer holidays.