A year ago, you would not have found eleven-year-old Sakiya on any road to school. You would have found her at home in Garin Gunja, a farming and cattle-rearing community in Nangere Local Government Area, Yobe State, fetching, carrying and minding her younger siblings while the adults worked.
Sakiya could do all of that. She could not read her own name.
It was never for lack of wanting. Garin Gunja had never had a school. The nearest one was more than three hours away on foot, and the route crossed a fast, busy express road where a small girl had only a moment to decide when to run. No parent could be blamed for refusing to send a daughter on that journey. So the girls stayed home, and the question of what Sakiya might become went unasked, because there was nowhere for the answer to begin.
The community refused to wait.
Parents had carried the same hope into prayer for years: that their daughters would one day read and write. Then the community decided to act. Chief Salisu Lawan gave his own land for a school. In a place where land is livelihood, that was a plain statement of what mattered most.
“We see school as an important part of life and development,” he said.
ActionAid Nigeria, through its Local Rights Programmes, came alongside them and supported the construction of a three-classroom school block. The idea, the land and the determination all belonged to Garin Gunja. Supporters like you helped turn them into walls, a roof and a door.
Then Sakiya walked through it.
On opening day, Sakiya and many other girls entered a classroom for the first time. “I have never been enrolled in school before,” she said, “but now I am happy that I have enrolled. I want to be a doctor so I can help my family.”
The dream had not been missing all those years. It had simply had nowhere to begin.
Today, more than two hundred girls who had never entered a classroom are learning in Garin Gunja. The herds still graze and the fields are still tended, but there is a new sound in the community: children learning.
But Garin Gunja is not the only community still waiting.
Across Nigeria, there are girls like Sakiya who live too far from a classroom, or whose parents cannot risk the road. Many of their communities are ready to give land, labour and leadership. What they need is a partner.
You can be that partner.
- With as little as 3,000 naira you can help equip a classroom with desks and teaching supplies
Donate today
Because the question isn’t whether these communities want a school. They always have it. The question is whether a girl like Sakiya, in a community like Garin Gunja, will have somewhere for her dream to begin.
Where will the next Sakiya be at eight o’clock tomorrow morning? With your help, on a short walk to school.
Bank Transfer Details
If you prefer to make a direct bank transfer, please use the details below. You can copy any of the information as needed.
Account Name: ActionAid Community Sponsorship
Bank: Zenith Bank
Account Number: 1310217669