Mamie Queen

I've been working on the Girls Education Challenge (GEC) Learning Assistant component for over two years now. It's a project that set out to recruit and support more women into teaching in rural areas of Sierra Leone, and has been very effective. Our trip this week is to carry out research by interviewing a wide range of people involved in the project to try to capture what has contributed to the project's success. In particular we are focusing on the way that local communities have engaged with and supported the young women on the project. One of the people we met today was one of the village's ‘Mamie Queen’: Women’s Leader Massah attended school for exactly one day as a child. After that, she was taken to her village to do farm work. She married at 14.  Before she turned 17 her husband died, leaving her with two children. She became involved in NGO led programmes for capacity building in rural areas, and over some years she grew into a leadership role. She was elected Women’s Leader 9 years ago, a position she will hold for life. She represents over 2,000 local women in farming and educational projects. Women can report domestic abuse to her, and she will take their cases to the police. Since recently completing an adult literacy course, she can now write her name. She meets, listens to and encourages the young women on the project in the market and visits them in schools, even attending some of their tutorials to check on attendance. Speaking with her was truly inspiring. Our interview was conducted in Mende, with an English translator, and took place at the women’s community outdoor meeting space, which has a communal kitchen and seating surrounded by mango, banana and cashew trees.