Seventh grade in Guinea through the lens of a Polaroid — Assembly

13-year-old Aïssatou Lamarana Diallo captures her home in rural Guinea.

After passing Guinea’s nationwide entrance exam for seventh grade, 13-year-old Aïssatou Lamarana Diallo was preparing to leave her rural village of Tolo and move to Mamou, a larger city two hours away. The few schools in Tolo that offer secondary education are only able to offer a partial curriculum due to a shortage of teachers and cannot accommodate students past the 10th grade, so girls who want to continue their education must leave home. Aïssatou’s older sister, Kadiatou, was already in Mamou about to enter the 10th grade, and Aïssatou was getting ready to say goodbye to her other siblings and join Kadiatou there for secondary school.

But on September 5, 2021, a military coup deposed the President of Guinea. Though the transition to the military interim regime didn’t affect the daily lives of most Guineans, Aïssatou’s father decided to keep her close to her home and family for the time being.

As part of a collaboration between Malala Fund and 1854 Against all Odds, Guinean photographer Hady Barry set out to document Aïssatou’s first few days of secondary school in Tolo. For Hady, whose father grew up in the village, the project was an opportunity to let Aïssatou tell her own story. “I didn’t want to just show up to Tolo, take photos of Aïssatou from my limited perspective, and then go on my merry way,” Hady explains. Instead, she gave Aïssatou a Polaroid camera to carry to and from school, documenting life as it happened around her.

Through these photos, taken between the start of the school year in October 2021 to December 2021 when the Polaroids ran out, Aïssatou shares details about her life — her trip into Tolo for school, her mother’s provisions shop and her family cow, Arsiqué. “I’m approaching this project as a gift to the viewers,” says Hady. “It is an immense privilege to be welcomed into the life of a young girl.”

Read on to hear more from Aïssatou as she begins seventh grade in Tolo.

This is me, Aïssatou Lamarana Diallo. I love the color red because it’s beautiful. I leave GadaBarrage (editor’s note: GadaBarrage is a neighbourhood in Tolo whose name means “there by the dam”) to go to school in Tolo. I am 13 years old. I am in seventh grade at the middle school in center city Tolo.

I took this photo next to my bedroom window because the view was beautiful. I liked the flowers and the blue sky.

This is my bedroom where I sleep with my mother. I liked my bags and my mother under the light of the moon.

I saw an image of my mother with my cow. The cow is named Arsiqué, which means “Luck.” I took the photo in front of our courtyard at home. I took the photo because my mother looked pretty.

My mother's shop. She goes there every day to sell pepper, tomato boxes, peanut boxes, onions, Maggi and palm oil. Everyone shops there, the men and the women.

This is my father, his name is Thierno Foula Baillo Diallo. He has four wives. He has eight boys and seven girls. I am the tenth child.

This is my bag. I bought it in Mamou with my father. It is my school bag. I put notebooks, pens and a math toolbox in there. I like its black color.

This is my older sister. Her name is Kadiatou Diallo. There are three years between us. She is in 10th grade. She left for Mamou [the nearest city] because there is no 10th grade in Tolo.

This is me, Aïssatou Lamarana Diallo. I’m wearing my school uniform. This is my favorite pose. After my studies I want to work in health care to heal people.