“In school, I learned…”

The Peace Corps recently partnered with First Lady Michelle Obama and other government agencies to launch Let Girls Learn, an initiative aimed at raising awareness and implementing programming to promote and support girls' education.

As a way to get the message out, a call went out to those of us with access to education to fill in the blank: “In school, I learned __________. #62MillionGirls don’t have that chance,” and be part of a global yearbook.

Following our event for International Day of the Girl, my advanced English communication class read and responded to Malala Yousafzai’s speech to the UN in July 2013. The speech and discussion questions were put together by the Peace Corps Morocco Gender and Development Committee and led to several classes worth of discussion. At the end of the month, the students filled in the blank with why education is important to them. Thanks to photographer Fran Cresswell, their responses are accompanied by beautiful portraits:

“In school I learned that in order to achieve my dreams, I must work hard for them. #62MillionGirls don’t have that chance.”–Meryam

“In school, I learned how to lead my own way without relying on others. #62MillionGirls don’t have that chance.”–Youssef

“In school, I learned to speak up for my rights. #62MillionGirls don’t have that chance.”–Salma

“In school, I learned to be ambitious and have goals. #62MillionGirls don’t have that chance.”–Issmail

“In school, I learned how to develop my personality. #62MillionGirls don’t have that chance.”–Kawtar

“In school, I learned how to be tolerant and social. #62MillionGirls don’t have that chance.”–Ayoub

“In school, I learned how to deal with people and how to move forward. #62MillionGirls don’t have that chance.”–Meryam

“In school, I learned how to compare between the good things and the bad. #62MillionGirls don’t have that chance.”–Abdou

“In school, I learned more information like learning new vocabulary and the best thing is how to build my future. #62MillionGirls don’t have that chance.”–Abdelatif

“In school, I learned how to communicate with people in different languages and how to design my dreams. #62MillionGirls don’t have that chance.”–Zineb

“In school, I learned how to be a leader and have self control, be brave in the hardest cases and to how to be independent and respect other people. #62MillionGirls don’t have that chance.”–Youness

“In school, I learned how to have my own ideas and how to defend them. I also learned how to work really hard to get our place in the world we’re living in. #62MillionGirls don’t have that chance.”–Abderrahman

“In school, I learned that if I want something, I have to fight for it. #62MillionGirls don’t have that chance.”–Mohamed

I am proud of my students, both pictured and not, who not only value learning in school but beyond the classroom through our biweekly meetings as well as programming and events that take place in their community.

Olivia DiNucci and Kabir Moss are Youth Development Volunteers in Morocco. Aside from weekly work that includes coaching basketball, assisting associations and teaching English, both have invested a lot of their service to secondary projects. Olivia has put on a number of female empowerment and women’s heath programs and Kabir works on a well and water system in a rural village just outside city limits. The beautiful landscape, richness of culture and overwhelming kindness of the people have made it easy for Kabir and Olivia to decide to extend their service for a third year. Marhababikum f Mghreb, “you are welcome in Morocco!”