Barbadian singer, songwriter, and actress Rihanna and her Clara Lionel Foundation took a trip down to Malawi earlier this year to meet students, teachers, government officials, and mentors to better understand the issues and challenges surrounding education.
Rihanna’s Clara Lionel Foundation partnered with the Global Partnership for Education and Global Citizen to advocate for strong education systems that ensure the world’s poorest kids can get a quality education. Through a new short documentary highlighting her trip to Malawi, Rihanna visited the Muzu Primary School, met with education experts, talked with children, and lead them through singing and learning exercises.
In other parts of the video, Riri can be seen immersing herself with the kids as she sings and plays sports with them and helps with their maths.
She explained “It’s such a pity that they have to drop out because they are so smart and everybody is learning together and learning at the same pace it seems. It’s sad that has to end for some of them because they could probably do so much if they had the resources to continue and complete.”
“I love that they learn in melody, that’s like my favorite thing,” Rihanna notes about her experience in the classrooms. “Because kids, they adopt melody really, really quickly. And so if you can use that as a learning tool, I think that’s the most brilliant, brilliant thing.”
As the clip highlights, classrooms sometimes have as many as 100 students with just one teacher. It’s harder for students to succeed in classes that big and they are at greater risk of dropping out. Another challenge is food — many students come to school without having eaten yet, and meals aren’t provided at school.
Furthermore, one of the learners talks about often not having food but he doesn’t worry because “I believe in the future when I will be a businessman I will have more food.” He later says “this is a beautiful school with beautiful learners” but there is a lack of chalk and books.
The end of the video encourages world leaders to increase education funding to the Global Partnership and help provide that education to millions starting in 2018.
Take your time to watch this heart-moving video and don’t forget to share your comment below (in the comment section):
If you’re interested in helping this partnership provide education around the globe, you can donate and obtain more information on www.claralionelfoundation.org or www.globalcitizen.org/gpe
