Go You Girls!!!

In a few days, on the 8th the world will celebrate International Womens Day, with the theme being “A promise is a promise: Time for action to end violence against women”.

There’ll be messages on social media sites, adverts on TV and maybe even a few radio spots mentioning it. Unfortunately, for the millions of women in developing countries whom this theme relates to, they won’t hear much about it.

In many developing countries these are the facts:

1.     Women are seen as second class to men, sometimes lower in value than animals

2.     Girls are married off as young as 12 years of age leading into further poverty

3.     Girls who are married off young fall pregnant too early for their underdeveloped bodies, leaving the mother with severe injuries

4.     Women perform two thirds of the work in the labour force

5.     They usually have less access than men to medical care, property ownership, credit, training and employment

6.     A woman has none or little control over choosing the number of children to have

7.     Laws against domestic violence are often not enforced on behalf of women

Our child sponsor program is called Riziki. It assists children aged from 6 to 18 years of age who come from dire poverty situations. Most come from the Kibera Slum where there is little electricity, running water and where people live in small huts made of mud.

Without assistance there is little possibility of these boys and girls going to school or vocational training. When I look at the girls we are assisting I see them having brighter futures than their own mothers. I see young women who have dreams to be someone significant in the world. They want to be teachers, nurses, social workers, musicians, engineers and doctors.

Many of these girls come from single parent families, with the mum trying to just survive day by day. Some are HIV positive, many are unemployed and unskilled. Their focus is on surviving moment by moment. Their children though, are now able to think about the future.

Hope is a powerful thing. Riziki is bringing our young people a hope and a future. Every child, whether a boy or girl deserves that much.