Even though I was last here in March of this year I had forgotten the joy of teaching English to these girls who are so keen to learn, especially when it comes to talking about what they like and dislike doing at the weekend. So many interesting things emerge from the fact that most of them enjoy doing homework and housework (I wonder how many of their UK counterparts would say the same thing?) and not surprisingly that they all like listening to music, sending texts and playing on their phones but rather more unexpectedly that a few like winter time and walking in the rain and even more in the snow. Like most teenagers anywhere they don't like getting up early and waiting for the bus (and as that probably involves getting up between 5 and 6 on a Monday morning who can blame them?) Some of the other classes have been rather more dry as the girls have asked for me to help them with modal verbs and gerunds for upcoming tests but even that has been rewarding when they find that they can understand better than they originally feared. And of course there is nothing better than when they come back saying that they have got good marks in the dreaded tests (which count towards their baccalaureat score at the end of the year) and as they leave the room with a chorus of thanks and hugs and kisses after every class, I just wish I could stay here for much longer!

The other really interesting thing I have been involved in is helping Khadija interview the girls about their background and their lives leading up to coming to an EFA house and then writing up their 'stories'. It has been a fascinating exercise and in many cases very moving to hear about the barriers they have had to overcome. Without exception they come from families who value education and they speak of parents who have often spent little time at school and really want to give their daughters a better chance in life. Meanwhile the girls are so keen to repay their parents for the confidence they have in them and usually talk of working to make things better for their families and their villages in the future. Some of them have been to the government boarding houses where the experience has not always been positive: the ratio of staff to students is not good and a few of them have spoken about how there are some groups of girls there who don't work, generally mess around and are a bad influence on the others. On a darker note one girl told us that she really hated the boarding house as the housemother used to beat the girls. All of them live in more or less remote villages and one girl even had a long walk to primary school, quite apart from the distance they have to travel to go to the College (junior high school) or Lycee (senior high school). They also acknowledge how pleased they are to get a place in an EFA boarding house as only one in four who apply to EFA will be selected as there is not the capacity to take any more girls. Some of them have had very difficult family circumstances, such as the death of one or both parents and having to help care for lots of brothers and sisters, not to mention poverty where it is a daily struggle to make ends meet. On a more positive note we interviewed one girl yesterday who told us that now she is in her final year of school and about to take her Bac her views are respected in the village and she has already helped with a literacy initiative for women and a crèche for their children in her village.

(Sorry about the upside down village but turning it the right way round as proved beyond my limited techie powers!)