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Friday, March 09, 2012

CONNECTING GIRLS, inspiring futures

CONNECTING GIRLS, inspiring futures

A story from Charlotte - Peaks Foundation’s Expedition Manager

Women’s rights begin with Education. Education is a Human Right that is violated every day for millions of women all over the world. International Women Day allows people to focus on those rights and on the initiatives that are brought together in order to fight this inequality. Once a girl gets an education, she has 2.2 fewer children. She can understand what’s going on in the world, she can have a job, set up her own company, she can stand up for herself in her own life because she knows her rights and abilities.

I have witnessed the importance of education for girls at The School Of St Jude in Tanzania, a project funded by Peaks Foundation. The motto of the School is “Fighting Poverty Through Education.” They are giving a high level education to impoverished children in the Region of Arusha, Tanzania. I am sponsoring a girl there. Her name is Julieth. She is 15 years old now, and I have known her for 8 years. She can talk endlessly about the books she has read, about the people she admires. She admires mostly Asha Rose Migiro – the Secretary of Ban Ki Moon at the United Nations : it’s a role-model for Julieth as she is Tanzanian too – she allowed Julieth to dream of the possibility to have a brighter future if she works on it. 

Julieth decided that she wanted to become a lawyer to fight for the rights of children and women who cannot stand up for themselves. She has understood already that she is the only one to be able to change her own future. I admire her for this – I did not understand that for myself until I was 26. During my last visit in Tanzania, she talked to me about all the inspirational quotes she read in order to motivate herself. She also has written a motivational story by herself. One of its final verse states: “with all my strength, I started to climb the mountain, because I realized that I was the only one with a rope long enough to pull me out.”

Investing in girls is the answer.

International Women Day. International Girls Day. March 8th, 2012