Bendu Kawa

Meet Bendu Kawa, proud mum to three children at Bridge Liberia Weakama public school. The school is located around an hour’s drive from Liberia’s capital, Monrovia, and is fortunately close to where Bendu lives. Her eldest son George is in Sixth Grade, while Jenneh and Memah are in Second Grade.

Bendu says that the education of her children has improved dramatically since Bridge went into partnership with the school, describing it as a “godsend” that has made her life: “easy and relaxing.”

She’s extremely impressed with the reading comprehension of Jenneh and Memah in particular, saying that despite only being in Second Grade, they are reading with the fluency of Fifth Graders.

“Before Bridge a lot of the current systems were not in place,” Bendu explains, “Teachers weren’t often in the classroom, and they didn’t stay at school until 3 pm. However, everything has changed. The school now has some standards.”

Bendu has become so enthusiastic about the school that she’s involved herself in the Parent Teachers’ Association, where she said she’s learning lots about how she can help her kids. “We talk about their grades, how we should be monitoring their school work and how they can learn to take care of themselves,” she says.