Hi! My name is Drissa. I was born in 2014. This year (2022), I am 8 years old and I am in the 2nd grade. I attend a public school not far from my house. My house is small and it is made out of mud bricks. The floor in our house is made out of dirt but I don’t mind this. I sleep on a small woven mat next to my mother. I live in a small village in West Africa. My village does not have electricity or running water. We use kerosene lamps sometimes in the evenings for light but really, we go to sleep when it is dark and we wake up when it is light. My father died when I was very small. I do not remember him. My mother and I live in the courtyard of my father’s extended family. My family are subsistence farmers. We plant cotton and sesame as cash crops and we plant corn, peanuts, okra and a few other vegetables to eat during the year until the next harvest. When the rains have started and it is time to work in the fields, everyone in the family is committed to the work. I am still too small to do much work in our fields but I can do things like carry some water out to the thirsty people working in the fields and I can help to care for the younger children in my extended family.