Expanding Lives: Our Story

Aissa was fourteen when she overheard her parents discussing her marriage.

It wasn't a surprise: 58 % of Nigerien girls marry by age 15. Respectful

girls stay silent, so Aissa was unable to discuss the decision with her

parents. Instead, she spoke to a teacher who spoke to the headmaster.  

He visited Aissa’s parents on her behalf. Aissa was too smart to stop

attending lessons, he pointed out. She deserved more than early

marriage and pregnancy. Aissa's parents reluctantly agreed, and she

continued to attend school. She continued to excel academically and

became a role model for younger girls in her community. In 2010, she

traveled to Chicago for a leadership conference with Expanding Lives.

Expanding Lives was founded in 2007 by Leslie Natzke, a former Peace

Corps volunteer, and a group of educators.  She began her Nigerien

teaching career at a junior high. She noticed the gender disparity in

education fairly quickly.  In a class of fifty, only five were girls. When

she transferred to high school, the number of girls decreased to two.

When she began teaching at a university, the class was entirely male.

The state of girls’ education in Niger is disheartening. Only 8% attend

secondary school; less than 1% attend university.  After conducting a

needs assessment, Expanding Lives determined that increasing the

number of female role models and elevating the status of strong girls and

women would make the greatest impact.

Expanding Lives hosted its first leadership conference in 2008 and

continues to hold them annually. Applicants must be first-generation

high school girls and excellent scholars. Applications are evaluated on

academics, their ability to tell their personal story, an analysis of a

community problem, and diversity. Each conference begins with a

week-long retreat in Wisconsin where the participants are paired with

American girls. Once the girls return to Chicago, they live with host

families and attend classes-in leadership, computers, women’s health,

yoga, entrepreneurship- six days a week.

When the girls return home, they host their own Young Girls’ Leadership

Conferences, targeting girls in junior high, the age when many girls are

pulled out of school to marry. Girls who attended the Chicago conference

lead a variety of classes, including menstruation, leadership, and

entrepreneurship. The conference encourages young girls to continue to

pursue their education, unfettered by marriage and children. Community

and political leaders, as well as parents, attend parts of the conference to ensure

buy-in and continued support of the girls in school.

This year the Chicago program is an All Star conference, comprised of past

participants, begins on June 16th. The women, whose education has been

supported by E.L., will further develop their leadership capacity. This

summer’s goals are to gain professional insight with short job

shadowing/internships, to lay the groundwork for community

women’s leadership groups (based on the Lean In model), and

develop a plan for supplemental income.  In addition, the women

will work through a program evaluation of the Young Girls’

Conferences and develop a mentoring program. They will

participate in the annual fundraising 5K on July 6th.

“People don’t always understand what we’re trying to do,” says

Natzke about the West African conferences. “They see we’re working

with four girls, but really what we’re doing is working with four girls

who will act as role models throughout their lifetime. Our hope

is to have more women in positions of power, to have richer

participation so that everyone benefits.”

Since the charity is staffed entirely by volunteers, 95% of its revenue goes into

program expenses. Although the current cash flow fully funds the conferences,

it limits expansion.

With more resources, Expanding Lives would expand the reach of conferences held in West Africa and provide more educational opportunities for girls and women. Donations mean more girls in school, fewer girls in premature marriages, more women in positions of power and with voice.

After returning home in 2010, Aissa and another Expanding Lives’

participant organized an AIDS awareness conference at her high

school. Once she graduated, her parents again began discussing

marriage. Aissa didn’t need assistance this time; she laid out her

plan to go be an accountant.  Now, with a master’s degree in

accounting and a position with Catholic Relief Services, Aissa

supports her 6 younger siblings' education. Her family comes

to her when important decisions need to be made.

She continues to campaign for girls’ education.

Expanding Lives in Ouidah, Benin

Expanding Lives had a unique summer conference this year – we held our conference in the town of Ouidah, Benin.  Eight American volunteers travelled to the West African country to meet with six Nigerienne girls that have been to our conference in Chicago before, and two Nigeriens that work for our sister organization MICA.  We also had the good fortune of working with numerous residents of Ouidah that helped us put our program together.  Our time was spent with classes for the Nigerienne girls taught by American volunteers, cultural activities, and panel discussions.  But my favorite event was a one-day conference held for local Beninese girls.

Conference planning: Rahila (left) and Mariatou (right)

Twelve local Beninese girls, in grade 7, came for a conference taught entirely by our Nigerienne alums.  Given a whole day for the conference, the Nigerienne girls planned out with each other what they wanted to teach and how they wanted to teach it.  This conference was meant to be a trial run of sorts.  After returning from Chicago, our girls are expected to teach other girls in their community.  They already held one conference last September in Niger for middle-school girls and it seemed to be a huge success.  At this conference in Benin, the Americans with Expanding Lives wanted to observe and then offer guidance with how the girls planned and executed it.

Introduction: our leaders up front

Our Nigerien young women trained our new Beninese girls

 

Having never seen these girls in that kind of teaching role before I didn’t know what to expect.  Would they be able to engage the younger girls?  Keep control of the classroom?  Plan enough material?

The leaders started out with a get-to-know you-get-comfortable game

                                                           Holy cow did they rock it.  

Watching this conference unfold was the greatest experience I had in Benin.  With no outside help from us, these girls executed a hugely successful day.  Super-quiet Roukaya commanded the room with poise, and go-getter Rahila managed the needs of different students beautifully.  I cannot put into words how proud I am of these girls.  It is amazing to see how much they have grown from their first days in Chicago just a few years ago.  Watching this conference, I am confident that our girls will continue to be successful, powerful forces in their communities and will continue to spread Expanding Lives’ mission through many more conferences in Niger.  I am so proud and grateful to be a part of this organization.

Rakia started with leadership class

Mariatou worked on English

Beninese girls were very engaged

Marlia used her teaching skills on Peer Mediation

A trained and perhaps natural teacher, Marlia adds a lot to the group of leaders. 

Roukaya insisted that the girls "Get in there!" to solve problems

The girls listened to each other and took lots of notes. 

Roukaya

The girls talked about the types of problems they could solve with mediation. 

Girls acting out problems and mediation skills

 

Aissa talks about the importance of knowing our bodies for personal health.
Her self-confidence and willingness to talk about personal experience put the girls at ease. 

Aissa teaches about the menstrual cycle

Rahila focused on yoga exercises for relief from stress and menstrual pain. 

Reach for the sky!

Katherine Aulis is a member of the Junior Board.  She travelled to Benin to teach the Women’s Health classes.

Winter Fundraisers

Happy Holidays from Expanding Lives

With the holiday season quickly approaching, we are about mid-way between summer conferences, and that means Expanding Lives is focusing on fundraising for the upcoming 2014 conference. This year’s conference will take place in Benin and will allow us to regroup all past participants to evaluate our program and look toward to some serious teamwork on the ground.  We have a number of events and campaigns planned for this winter.  These fundraisers help contribute a lot of the resources that make our summer conferences possible.

The first event is the Annual Holiday Dinner and Alternative Gift Giving Event.  Volunteers will be hosting dinners across the country during the first week in December, in order to raise awareness and money for Expanding Lives.  This is the second year these dinners have been held.  Last year was a huge success; we even surpassed our fundraising goal!  Many thanks to all those who hosted and participated last year, as well as to those who have volunteered to host this year.

Alternative giving is a form of gift giving in which the gift giver makes a charitable donation on the recipient’s behalf, instead of giving them an item.  For all of those friends and family members to whom you aren’t sure what to give, consider making a donation on their behalf to Expanding Lives instead.  It is the perfect holiday gift that is suitable for everyone and makes a difference for so many people.  If you are interested in making a donation to Expanding Lives, please visit our website at www.expandinglives.org.  To learn more about how you can be a part of our Annual Holiday Dinner Event, please contact Sara Chambers at schambers@expandinglives.org.

Aichatou and Sara 

Another holiday fundraiser is our annual gift-wrapping fundraiser.  Our fantastic volunteers will be skillfully gift-wrapping presents for shoppers in exchange for donations to Expanding Lives in many locations across the north suburbs of Chicago. We will be at Lincolnwood Town Center from December 19th-24th, Barnes and Noble at both Village Crossing on December 19th and Old Orchard on December 20th, and Golf Mill Shopping Center on December 22nd-23rd.  Stop by while doing your holiday shopping to say hello, and let us help you wrap your gifts!  If you would like more information, or would like to volunteer with us, please contact Alankrita Siddula at asiddula1@gmail.com.

Joseph, our most dedicated gift wrapper

Finally, at the beginning of January, we will start a fundraising campaign for Nafissa, one of our first conference participants.  We are looking to raise money for Nafissa’s tuition as she works towards her Master’s in nutrition. Considering Nafissa is the only person in her family to finish junior high school, that her father died a few months after she left Chicago, that she is in charge of two younger brothers, $1000. a year for the two year program is small change for the great changes she will be able to make.  She is an incredibly bright young woman, and the first of our participants to pursue a graduate degree. We are so excited to see her furthering her education.  As one of 20 students accepted into Niger’s first ever graduate program in nutrition, Nafissa hopes to help the people in her community combat starvation and malnutrition, giving children a chance at a future.

Happy holidays from Expanding Lives!
 
-by Katherine Aulis, Junior Board Member

So, I’m a little weird.

Everyone knows working as an intern involves making copies, getting coffee, organizing documents, and the like, right? Well, the weird thing about me is: these “little things” excite me. Be that as it may, as “the intern” for Expanding Lives, making copies, getting coffee, and organizing documents was probably close to 2.5% of the work that I did this summer.

From day one, I was treated like family. Although never having met Leslie before, she drove right up to me in her sky blue Honda hybrid stick shift, welcoming me into her car with no hesitation. Little did I know, she would soon trust me with the most rewarding responsibility bestowed upon me thus far. Since Expanding Lives had to adjust its agenda this summer, I was able to experience the questions, concerns, outcomes, and successes of making changes to an already newly designed program. Instead of bringing high school girls here for six weeks, because Ramadan moves up every year, Expanding Lives decided to bring back girls that have been here before. After the application process was completed, Expanding Lives' board chose the top applicants to return to Chicago to prepare a leadership conference to be held in Niger for girls in 7th and 8th grade.  I was able to see the importance of the “little things” in smoothly running a non-profit – something I hope to do in the future. Within the first week, Leslie and I were sitting side by side – me organizing pictures, she e-mailing volunteers, calling job shadow connections, and gathering 3-day CTA passes; we understand the importance of the “little things.”

Because a lot of my work was done behind the scenes, when I was finally able to meet Rakia, Rahila, Aissa, and Rahilatou it was all the more exhilarating. Although it took a few days to get comfortable with each other, by the fourth day we were all sitting around talking about our lives, being sarcastic, and sharing our feelings. Now this might seem corny and obvious, but I find it more difficult to be serious and talk about my beliefs and ideologies with my friends from home than the friends I make while abroad abroad, and this was the most refreshing part about Expanding Lives for me. I was able to be in America, in my home city of Chicago, and bond with people over things I really only express while I am abroad. Making decisions has always been hard for me, and solidifying my beliefs and feelings even harder. Through the long discussions with these girls, I was able to come to terms with many beliefs that I have been suppressing or holding back, because I was scared to express them.

This internship was a great experience logistically and socially, but I also came to terms with a new notion of time. It is not about the getting things done as fast as one can, just so one can say he or she has done something; it is better to spend 3 years working on something that you love, making it the best it can be, making something you are proud of, something you enjoy, something you want to show off! It might take me a few years to really find out what this “thing” is that I love so much, but it is electrifying knowing I have these basic skills of how to make things happen, something I could only thank EL for.

One would imagine, if organizing documents excites someone, then actually experiencing the impact of a program like Expanding Lives really gets him or her motivated and moving. This summer made me realize that any development, no matter how small, makes an impact. Expanding Lives is all about a few women learning basic skills, and spreading it to someone else, who spreads it to someone else, who spreads it to someone else, and soon enough, a whole country will have a population full of female leaders!

As I am about to embark on a year abroad in Kenya, what I have learned this past summer will help me open up to people, take notice when something stands out to me, and be proactive when I want something to happen. Expanding Lives has given me skills, experiences, and memories that I am so unbelievably thankful for. Without Leslie, the Senior Board, Junior Board, the four courageous girls I met this summer, and the many more in Niger, I would probably still be twiddling my thumbs, naively hoping everyone will one days just drop the weapons and love each other.