In her home village of Soudiane, Marième Bamba is known for her contagious smile.  Married with four children, Marième is the pride of her village because of her dedication to and love for her community. 

   

In 1999, Marième was chosen by her peers to be the President of the Community Management Committee   (CMC), a committee that manages all development-related activities in the community.  The opportunity to help lead her community also gave Marième the courage to pursue practical training in health care service.  In Soudiane, Marième’s knowledge and experience helps her to provide patient care and childbirth assistance.  Marième also travels to surrounding villages to share knowledge she has gained through the Tostan Community Empowerment Program (CEP) and subsequent development activities that she and the CMC have led in Soudiane.  Her main goal is to raise awareness of human rights, hygiene, health and the abandonment of harmful traditional practices, such as female genital cutting (FGC) and child/forced marriage .

   

In addition to this already greatly admirable commitment, Marième decided to embrace another challenge: travelling to the Barefoot College in India for six months to become her village’s solar power engineer.  Her training now complete, Marième is back in Soudiane helping to provide for the welfare of her family and her village through solar power.