“I want to be a nurse.” This comment was made in response to my age old question of, “What would you like to be when you grow up?” I’ve asked this question to children in the United States, but this time I was in Uganda, speaking with a 14-year-old girl, Malacondia, who attends St. Luke’s Primary School in the northern part of Uganda, near the border with South Sudan. The school educates children from Uganda as well as refugees from South Sudan, displaced by the horrific unrest there. Not … [Read more...]
Theresa Kachindamoto, Female Chief in Malawi Takes Action!
African female chief breaks up 850 child marriages and pays for the kids to go back to school Senior chief in the Dedza District of Central Malawi, Theresa Kachindamoto, governs over about 900,000 people and has been avidly using her power to bring young women into a modern age of equality and enlightenment. Over the past three years, she has annulled more than 850 child marriages, sent many hundreds of young women back to school and focused heavily on abolishing what are known as … [Read more...]
International Day of Prayer Against Human Trafficking, Feb. 8
Pontifical Council Announces International Day of Prayer Against Trafficking Will Be Celebrated Feb. 8, Feast of St. Josephine Bakhita Josephine Margaret Bakhita, F.D.C.C., was a Sudanese-born former slave who became a Canossian Religious Sister in Italy, living and working there for 45 years. In 2000 she was declared a saint by the Roman Catholic Church. She was born in about 1869 in the western Sudanese region of Darfur; in the village of Olgossa, west of Nyala and close to Mount … [Read more...]
Forced to marry her rapist — days until the big vote
16 year-old Amina Filali, raped, beaten and forced to wed her rapist, killed herself — the only way she saw to escape the trap set for her by her rapist and Moroccan law. We’ve joined Moroccan activists, campaigning for years to repeal this provision, and now victory is within reach. This week, one last vote could make it happen. Article 475 in Morocco’s penal code allows a rapist to avoid prosecution and a long prison sentence by marrying his victim if she is a minor. It’s any rape … [Read more...]
“Preventing Child Marriage”
"Ending Gender Based Violence" “Educating girls, ultimately educates everyone. It is the power within that can move mountains without” - Libbi Gorr A well-educated girl possesses great power—the power of thought, choice and action. Through secondary, tertiary, and higher education a girl is empowered to be an independent decision-maker, with the choice of being whoever she desires to be. Educating a girl gives her control over her life and body. She can choose her goals, profession, … [Read more...]
Franz Gastler – MAN of ACTION™
A Celebration of Women™ is elated to Celebrate the Life of this extremely rare and wonderful awakened male soul. Born in the west, and guided to the east, this gentle man devotes his life to the betterment of the lives of women and girls inside the slums of India. He is a testament to the belief that women will always work for their growth, and usually carry most of the weight in any situation of struggle. His work thrives through a philosophy that athletics and education are the keys … [Read more...]
Take Action – Bride trafficking to China from Southeast Asian grows!
PHNOM PENH, March 2013 (IRIN) - Bride trafficking to China from Southeast Asian countries which do not border on that country looks set to grow, says the UN, with the first reported cases from Cambodia in 2012. Most cases go unreported. “The numbers of identified cases are still small, but this number could rise given the social demographics in play,” Lisa Rende Taylor, chief technical adviser for the UN Inter-Agency Project on Human Trafficking (UNIAP), told IRIN, noting that in the past … [Read more...]
Celebrate Abolishing Sang Chatti (compensation marriage): Pakistan
Abolishing Sang Chatti: Pakistan works to prevent compensation marriage and other forms of Violence Against Women Seven-year-old Izzo Bibi* lives in a small village in the province of Sindh in southern Pakistan. Her father cannot afford to send her to school but her mother has taught her traditional Sindhi embroidery. Izzo’s older cousin Sheeno* used to help her learn new embroidery motifs. When Izzo’s paternal uncle murdered his neighbour, the faislo (also called Jirga, the … [Read more...]
World Pulse Joins V-Day !!!
World Pulse Joins V-Day in calling for the world to rise against gender-based violence. V-Day's Campaign, One Billion Rising began as a call to action based on the staggering statistic that 1 in 3 women on the planet will be beaten or raped during her lifetime. With the world population at 7 billion, this adds up to more than one billion women and girls. On 14 February 2013, V-Day's 15th Anniversary, activists, writers, thinkers, celebrities and women and men across the world will … [Read more...]