I want to go to school too…

Alda is the only one of five sisters who managed to go to school.  She is in the 10th grade in the school of Torovica, but to convince the girl's father to register her at school was not easy, either for the teachers or for World Vision staff.

"I am a girl and I have the right to go to school!" - says Alda.

In her family as per tradition the father takes decisions for the rest of the family, especially the girls. According to him, the girls should not be educated because school is not important for a good girl.

However, teachers are happy that persistence and constant conversations with the family were fruitful. The 15-year-old is one of the best pupils in her class, particularly in science subjects such as: math, physics and chemistry. Just like Alda, her sister's dream was to go to secondary school as well, but instead of sitting at school desks, her father has engaged her and at the time she wasn’t 17 years old yet.

Alda is very shy, but that doesn’t stop her from telling Elda, her only friend about her sister’s story.  For her it is difficult to overcome the fact that her father didn’t allow the first born girl of the family to go to school and have a better future. However, Alda’s biggest fear is that her father can do the same thing even with her other sisters. Prohibit them from attending school! Even though she made it to follow at least secondary school…she can’t stop thinking about her sisters’ fate.

Once, in villages of Lezha, it was the mentality, economic conditions or the distance from the nearest school that prevented young people, especially girls, from attending school.

Për të fuqizuar vajzat nëpërmjet edukimit, një ndër nismat ishte ajo e të rinjve të Torovicës të mbështetur nga World Vision, e cila në tetor 2017 finalizua me rihapjen e gjimnazit 20 vite pas mbylljes.

To empower girls through educations one of the initiatives was from youth in Torovica, that was supported by World Vision, and was finalized in October 2017 with the re-opening of the high school after 20 years.

"Whether you are a boy or a girl we have the same rights," says Alda, who hopes that her sisters could have the opportunity to attend secondary school and even university.

*Alda and Elda are not the real names of the girls.