acfa mentorship: gina’s story

This story is part 2 of 2 about a mentorship between one of our teenage girls, Awa, and a volunteer, Gina. First we’ll hear from Awa, so you can learn about her background and how she came to ACFA. The second part is Gina’s story nine months into their mentorship.

 ACAF Mentorship Part 2: Gina’s Story

I found out about A Child for All in January, 2023 by searching for virtual volunteer opportunities where I work at BMC Software, Inc. I am a former French teacher and a current mentor with Pinellas County Schools, St. Petersburg, Florida. I wanted to use my French and education experience with high school students in Africa or the Caribbean. I found an opportunity that ACFA had posted for a French translator. I exchanged several emails and met with the ACFA team. Instead of volunteering as a French translator, we started a virtual mentorship pilot program.

I was familiar with many of the French-speaking African countries, having studied French African literature for my Master’s degree in French that I completed in May, 2023. But I wasn’t familiar with Mali, so I did a lot of research about the country and its people. The ACFA team considered several of their older vulnerable children and decided to pair me with Awa, a 17-year old high school student. After an introduction by the ACFA team, in May, 2023 I started mentoring Awa at least twice per month in her early evenings on Microsoft Teams or WhatsApp (on video). (Mali is four hours ahead of Florida.)

In our initial meetings, I used some of the ice-breaker questions that I learned about while mentoring students in Florida. She has taught me so much about what it’s like to be a young woman in Mali, and we talk about the similarities and differences between our two countries, especially about what it’s like to be a young woman and a student.

In some of our meetings, I’ve introduced Awa to a colleague at work, and to my neighbor and her granddaughter. On New Year’s Eve, Awa brought her mother to our virtual meeting and I was so happy to meet her.

My role as mentor is to be a great listener, to help Awa achieve her goals, and to be her advocate when she needs anything from the ACFA team. I’ve sent Awa several articles about potential female African role models and a few eBooks written by young African women. When she mentioned perhaps wanting to become a journalist, I told her about some young journalists from Africa who now live in France and shared one of their books with her. When she was attending a sewing school and learning to make dresses, I showed her how she could make her own portfolio website for free. When she showed an interest in firefighting, I told her about our local fire chief, an African-American woman.

On a regular basis I follow up with the ACFA administration to give my feedback on how the mentorship is going and to make any special requests on behalf of Awa. I’d love to meet one of her teachers.

Mentoring has been a challenge at times due to internet or power issues at the Bamako Children’s Home where Awa lives. The greatest challenge is that sometimes she doesn’t have access to a mobile phone or computer at home.

It is helpful for a mentor to speak French, but we can find interpreters to help so that more Americans can mentor other ACFA children.

I’m so happy to have met Awa and built a relationship with her, even though we’ve never met in person. I hope she sees me as much as a positive influence to her as she is to me.