Report prepared by the Team that visited Darul Hijra on 22nd December, 2018
Purpose: A general review of MMNs yearly mentorship programme for the year 2018.
Members Present:
1. Fatimatu Ahmed
2. Hasia Ahmed Farouta
3. Inna Hajar OsmanDiko
Introduction.
The team arrived at the school at exactly 9:30 am. We were 30 minutes late as the scheduled time was supposed to be 9:00 am. All three members who volunteered to go for the mentoring session were present. On arrival, we proceeded to speak to the Headmaster on the purpose of our visit. The team was warmly received by him and was informed by Headmaster that MMN’s President had already spoken to him about our visit.
Initially, the girls were reluctant to come for the one-on-one mentoring when the Headmaster went round to inform them about the purpose of our visit. So, the team decided to meet them in their various classrooms and encourage them to participate.
A number of six girls who were all into dress-making came to meet the team. We divided them into two groups.
Fatimatu Ahmed handled three girls while Inna Hajar Dicko also handled three girls. All the girls who were learning to become seamstresses had some basic education, albeit not in English. They expressed their satisfaction with their chosen profession, with the exception of one girl who still wishes to go back to school.
They also expressed interest in a mentoring programme that will help to fine-tune their skills to become professional fashion designers. They also said they will appreciate any support the group offers them in that regard.
The contact numbers of the girls were taken for further mentoring by members of our team.
Hasia Ahmed Farouta introduced herself in all the classes we went to and encouraged all the girls who had interest in any of the sciences to meet her for a conversation. In all, about 14 girls expressed interest and came together for a group mentoring session with her.
Hasia noted a special case where one particular girl who was in JHS could not choose a particular profession to pursue and kept changing her profession for about the sixth time she was asked.
*The team later had a discussion and our initial prognosis was that her lack of decision could stem from the fact that she didn’t have the right guidance and role models from home and wanted to follow the crowd.
Note that this is just an observation and might not be the actual case. We recommend a further investigation to find out what the actual issue is.
Conclusion.
The session ended at 11: 30 am.
The team went back to the Headmaster and thanked him for the opportunity. We also reported to him on what we worked on for the day. He expressed his delight with our work and encouraged us to keep up the good work. He also stated that his doors are always opened to us.
