Mariama helps young Africans build a better future

Every year, thousands of people leave their homes in Africa because they feel they don’t have enough money to live on properly. In 2022, over 100,000 people risked their lives by taking tiny rafts and boats to cross the sea to Europe, hoping for a better life there.

Some of these people – they’re often called migrants – come from Senegal, in west Africa. That’s where Mariama Djambony Badji lives. Since she was at school, she’s felt sorry for young people who feel they have to leave their own country.

Solution? Education!

“We have to fix the root of the problem,” says Mariama. “That’s why we said to ourselves, OK, first let’s talk to these young people and try to understand why they’re leaving.”

Since she was a teenager – she’s now 24 – Mariama has worked with an organisation that offers training to help young people earn more money and to stop them making risky journeys to Europe. Mariama and her team at Africa Feliz Senegal have trained hundreds of people in skills that give them the chance to find work.

“These are young men, young women, who have left school very young, who don’t have qualifications and find it hard to get a job,” says Mariama. “We offer practical training in trades like house painting and bricklaying, so that they can support their families.”

Keeping it local

Mariama has also studied and she’s now a qualified civil engineer with her own construction company. Her speciality is in environmentally friendly building. She’s developed a way to make bricks using traditional local materials. Her own company employs young people she’s helped train – including people who have learned how to make bricks out of local mud. These have long been used in Senegalese villages and are really good at keeping homes cool.