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Christian Mutombo / Save the Children

Armed men forced Samira,* 15, from her village in Burkina Faso during the violence sweeping Africa’s Sahel region. She and her family fled with nothing to start a new life in Yatenga province. Samira’s education was brutally curtailed – she was out of school for the next two years. Girls in this region of Burkina Faso are often forced into early marriage – a threat that hangs over Samira. But Samira is determined to continue her studies. She’s now enrolled in school and is hoping to take extra lessons to help her catch up. “I want to be successful,” she says. Adrien Bitibaly / Save the Children

prise en charge avec un Oxymètre de Pouls dans un centre de santé. Marshal Gbedji

Kanche Neighborhood School, NigerSave the Children education and student government program. Photographer: Talitha BrauerCaption writer: Penny CrumpKanche Neighborhood School, Niger. In the garden, they are using compost and manure to make the most of the soil. Millet looks a bit like a cross between corn stalks and crab grass, it has a nutty, slightly bitter flavor. It looks a bit like bird feed. It’s pounded and cooked into a porridge called futu similar to grits. The girls would also like a wall for their safety. Hajara piped up that she would really like to go to a summit of all the student governments so she can work with other students to make things better for kids in Niger.There was one little girl, Yassira, who was quite crestfallen when we had to ask her to step out of the photo because she was not in the school and we needed a parent’s permission to take her picture. Tears welled in her eyes, but she put on a brave face and went about her task of preparing the bean curd for the snack for the meeting. Her father arrived soon after to sell us the bean curd– which we promptly bought, tasted and gave to the children. It was explained to him that we could not take her photo there was no release because she’s not in school. We were a little distressed when he informed us that he had no intention of enrolling her in school for the coming fall. So got a new release signed and discretely started a mini-campaign to get Yassira enrolled in school. We made our case with the director of the school, ibo_madou@yahoo.fr, the head of the PTA Madame Lawally and several other elders who were present for our visit. We shared our hopes that Yassira would be able to attend school with the other children. The community leaders rallied behind our little tofu girl and diplomatically convinced her father that his daughter should attend school. After our tour of the school grounds and their moringa grove, Yassira came running up to us to tell us her father said s Talitha Brauer