Educate a Girl and You Educate a Village: Part 3
“Every one of us can make a contribution. Quite often we look for the big things and forget that, wherever we are, we can make a contribution.” —Wangari Maathai
Dear Readers,
A friend responded to my story last week (Part 2) that high school student Mercy’s dream to become a surgeon was unrealistic. I agree with him that poverty, lack of access to post-secondary education, and unemployment are stark realities in Kenya and not all girls will achieve their ambitions; however, I believe in the power of dreams for their young women. Those dreams are essential to motivate them to change their world. Then education can make the difference. Nelson Mandela said, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”
One of my goals for this blog is to promote dialogue and explore new perspectives. His note made me dig deeper into myself and my dream of a kinder, greener world where girls have access to education.
Young people have dreams for a better world and these dreams can bear remarkable fruit. For example, when Craig Kielburger was 12, he was stunned to learn young boys his age were living in child slavery in Pakistan. He wanted to do something about this. He had a dream. He started small with12 friends meeting on weekends to create change when adults said things could not be changed. It became a movement and a far-flung operation called WE. WE has inspired and made a real difference in thousands of people’s lives—including mine. The WE story is still unfolding, but the dominant lesson for me is this: never underestimate the power of young minds who CHOOSE to dream big—anywhere, anytime, anyone.
The Kisaruni girls’ eagerness for education inspires me. They choose to get up at 4:30 am to do their chores, to go to class, to play sports and to participate in extracurricular activities. They are breaking age-old barriers between warring tribes by living with and supporting each other like family. Thanks to WE Charity they have access to education and importantly, fire in their bellies to contribute to their society.
While Kisaruni students are out of the classroom during this pandemic they are engaged in service learning such as building kitchen gardens and helping their parents at home. Micro-loan programs have been implemented for all WE College alumni. These loans have enabled groups to start sustainable income generating activities that are self-sustaining and increase income levels for group members. This is good news. Thanks to rigorous training on micro-enterprise development, students are learning about proposal development and business planning. Then with access to finances they can implement their business ideas.
COVID halted schools around the globe and has put girls’ education at even greater risk. Nobel laureate and co-founder of the Malala Fund, Malala Yousafzai, wrote a compelling article in this week’s Guardian about the reality that after this pandemic approximately 20 million girls may not return to the classroom. She calls on leaders to “take steps toward transformative change by delivering substantial financial stimulus to education. Our goal should not be a return to the way things were but instead a renewed commitment to the way the world should be, a place where every girl can learn and lead. To achieve this, we must ensure our economies, societies and education systems work for girls not against them.”
Around the world people are hoping that we will emerge from this pandemic with better solutions for global problems. Hard times can be windows of creativity and opportunity. Now more than ever, we must dare to dream better solutions for the survival of our planet.
Girls like Greta Thunberg and Malala Yousafzai are examples of young female leaders who are refusing to shrink their dreams for a better world. Kenya’s Nobel laureate Wangari Maathai’s words were never more relevant. We need to remember that “Every one of us can make a contribution. Quite often we look for the big things and forget that, wherever we are, we can make a contribution.” Let’s encourage our youth to dream about a better world and then support them in realizing their dreams.
Profits from my online store and direct donations will go to the Sarara Foundation, a Kenya based NPO working to support a long-term paradigm shift designed to catalyze a healthy, resilient and prosperous landscape in which both indigenous people and wildlife can thrive for multiple generations to come.
