Hadi, an 8th grade student at the Agadez Learning Center (ALC), comes from a small village where her younger siblings are enrolled in elementary school. Her older sister dropped out after elementary school, leaving Hadi to attend middle school alone. She explains that coming to the ALC was, “the first time I saw all these beautiful and wonderful things like the city lit by electricity as if it was daylight… vegetables sold year-round in the market, middle schools, hospitals & health centers, people who are not only Tuareg…”
Continuing on to Middle School was necessary to pursue her goals:
“My wish is to be a teacher… because I would like to help children in my village to have a better future, and for the development of our town, and for our youth who are, at the moment, left far behind.”
This goal is particularly meaningful for Hadi, having left her siblings in her home village with her father, who had worked for the Imouraren Mining Company, but who is now unemployed.