International Day of the Girl Child.

International Day of the Girl Child was one of the most important days on the trip. This year’s primary focus was on the education of young girls in Dubreka and tackling the obstacles that prevent their access to learning. The volunteers arrived at 10:00am as the local community was starting to set up the seating area and marquee in front of the bibliotheque. The DJ was providing the music to get the atmosphere going and local legend, Etienne Wright, was building the structure for the marquee.

The main event of the URBOND 2022 International Day of the Girl Child was a computer programming contest between 10 contestants. The 10-minute challenge so a race to build the most astute and sophisticated interactive scene. Every contestant started with a blank street corner on the right of their screen, and on the left was the space in which they would programme moving elements into their setting. As the timer started, there were very intense faces as they all started piecing together their sequences. As the clock counted down, there were some dejected faces who had run out of inspiration for improving their respective programmes. The judges walked around continuously scoring the contestants work, and the event was jointly hosted by URBOND and CJSFG, a charity that specialises in teaching children to code/programme in Guinea. After the 10 minutes had elapsed, the judges compared their scores and after deliberation a clear winner was found. The young girls name was Fatoumata Diallo and she presented with a winning certificate, courtesy of URBOND, chief sponsor Richmond Motor Group, and Orange Foundation in Guinea.

Alongside the programming competition was the topping out for the dedicated toilet facility for the young girls. The front of the toilets had been fully completed and looked amazing. The URBOND colours were painted on, giving a colourful orange, white, and grey twist. The Director of the school, Madame Toure, was joined by URBOND CEO Drame and the competition winner to cut the ribbon of the toilets. Filming the entire day was the national news service for Guinea, the RTG, capturing the moment the toilets were officially opened, as well as the girls programming competition. This would be the second year in a row URBOND have appeared on Guinea’s national television channel, which aired on Sunday 9th October.

With the toilets opened and the winner of the coding competition crowned, the local community members had time to interact with the URBOND volunteers.