How much is it possible to learn in 8 days?

According to Masarat Daud, the Chief Actionista of the 8 Day Academy, a week and a day of intensive learning can be life changing.

Giving back to girls’ education

Masarat is from the largest state in India, Rajasthan.  It is also the state with the most child marriages.

Masarat was lucky, however. Rather than being married off at a young age, she was one of the first female university graduates from her community. But she noticed that the girls around her didn’t have the same educational opportunities she had herself. So when her father donated 6 computers to a school in her home village, she decided to come and teach the teachers how to use them.

Unfortunately, she only had 8 days to spend with them. Would this be enough time to build the skills of people who had never even touched a computer before?

Yes it was. By the end of an intensive week, they were able to create documents and browse the internet. From there, the idea of the 8 Day Academy emerged.

Filling a gap

The 8 Day Academy is all about filling the gap in places where education is inaccessible. We’ve talked before about parents who don’t send their girls to school because they’d rather have them at home doing work around the house and farm. Some of these parents can at least be talked into letting their daughters take 8 days awayIn that short time, girls learn about computers, public speaking, and creative thinking. The focus is on functional education so that girls learn skills they’ll be able to apply in every day life.

The 8 Day Academy is not trying to replace regular schooling. The bigger picture is a community focus on education and especially girls’ rights to go to school. The impact of their lessons can help parents see the value in enrolling their children in school on a more regular basis.

With International Literacy Day tomorrow, here’s a shout out to Masarat – a girl who’s paying forward her right to education.  To be kept up to date on her amazing work, follow Masarat on twitter! 

Do you have a special skill that you could teach another girl in 8 days or less? Tell us about it here!

I’ve always taken risks, and never worried what the world might really think of me.
Cher

There are no regrets in life, just lessons.
Jennifer Aniston

Your regrets aren’t what you did, but what you didn’t do. So I take every opportunity.
Cameron Diaz

Don’t get too comfortable with who you are at any given time – you may miss the opportunity to become who you want to be.
Jon Bon Jovi

I stand for freedom of expression, doing what you believe in, and going after your dreams.
Madonna

Always have a vivid imagination, for you never know when you might need it.
J.K. Rowling

I wouldn’t dream of working on something that didn’t make my gut rumble and my heart want to explode.
Kate Winslet

As a rock star, I have two instincts, I want to have fun, and I want to change the world. I have a chance to do both.
Bono

I believe…how we treat the poor is a reflection of who we are as a people.
Alicia Keys

I think we all want justice and equality, a chance for a life with meaning. All of us would like to believe that if we were in a bad situation someone would help us.
Angelina Jolie

What is your favourite quote about standing up for what you believe in?

Lisa (back, 3rd from left) and the Irongirls

Girl. Cancer survivor. Triathlete.

Lisa Clarke-Potts knows something about taking on a challenge and reaching her own goals.

“I was just back from breast cancer and surgery and I wanted to get fit and improve my physical strength,” says Lisa. She recognized her strength as a swimmer – the part of the race most athletes find the most challenging – and decided triathlon was the sport for her. But, she wasn’t always 100% sure she would cross the finish line.

With the strength and fitness came a new sense of confidence. For her first triathalon, Lisa competed in the IronGirl event in Las Vegas, completing a sprint distance (850 meters swim, 22.5k bike, and 5k run) in the desert. By her side were 15 other girls and women who she’d been training with in Calgary.

“I think it’s really important to put new challenges in front of yourself on a regular basis,” she continues. “Sometimes we forget how capable we are. We should push ourselves…just get outside the box every now and then and try something new!”

Finish she did, but she didn’t stop there. Right away she took on her next race, beating her original time by 20 minutes! Next year, Lisa has the goal of racing 3 more times.

Her 14 year old daughter is also a cancer survivor. Lisa hopes to one day race with her daughter by her side.

“If you set a goal and train properly for it, it’s 100% achievable,” says Lisa. These words of wisdom can be applied to more than just triathlons, but to any challenge you take on in life.

Taking part in triathlons has made Lisa realize that challenges defy stereotypes. “The athletes came in every age, shape and size,” says Lisa. Participants ranged from 14 to 69. “It changed my idea of what an athlete was.”

What goal are you most proud of achieving? What was the biggest challenge you have had to overcome?

Growing up in small town Alberta, with a loving family and strong community support, I was blissfully unaware of the gender issue that constrains and limits so many young women across the world. Ever since I was a little girl, sport has been my passion and fortunately I did not have to face gender barriers to access or participate in sports. As a result I was able to participate in many sports and never questioned my dream to be an Olympian in the more male dominated sport of Freestyle Mogul Skiing. As a Canadian I have never been more proud than when I represented our country at the Olympic Games. While wearing the maple leaf I realized how fortunate we are in Canada to live in a society where the issue of gender equality, which affects millions of girls around the World, goes seemingly unnoticed for most young Canadians.

My commitment to the issue of gender equality was recently reaffirmed after I travelled to Rwanda with the Because I am a Girl Initiative. Despite being one of the poorest countries in the World, Rwanda has strong female participation at all levels of society. Hearing a young female student tell me that she feels strong and confident because she has equal access to sport was the perfect example of how our collective efforts can change the World one girl at a time. This young girl is a leader in her school and a role model in her community. Just imagine where her strength and confidence will take her and those around her into the future.

Creating an International Day of the Girl will help lead the discussion, spread the World, and create environments where more girls will flourish. That is why I have written to my local MP supporting this important initiative.

Please do the same by going to the Because I am a Girl website for support in doing so.

Rathika Sitsabaiesan is 29 years old, born in Sri Lanka, and the first female Member of Parliament (MP) ever to be elected in the Scarborough-Rouge River riding in Ontario.

Today, she gives us the inside scoop on how writing a letter to your MP about an issue you care about – like girls’ rights – can make a difference!

KJ: What kind of mail do you get in your office?

People write to let me know about issues that are important to them and to request assistance with federal issues. We get letters with information about campaigns and invitations to meet with constituents about their concerns.

We continue to receive of letters and messages of congratulations after the recent election. Constituents of Scarborough-Rouge River and people across the country are very excited about having more youth, women and people of colour representing them in Ottawa.

My critic area is Post-Secondary Education, which means that when this issue comes up in parliament, I am the go-to person to talk about it for my party. I often receive mail about my critic area and invitations to local events.

KJ: What makes a letter stand out?

A letter stands out when it is personal. It is important for me to know the issues that are important to my constituents and how these issues impact my constituency.

KJ: What can people expect when they mail or email their MP?

If someone has taken the time to write to their MP, their letter deserves a response. MPs are elected to represent their constituents, so if the letter is about casework we communicate with the appropriate federal department. Additionally Members of Parliament can bring the issue to their Caucus, we can write letters to the Minister who is responsible for the particular issue as well as raise the issue in the House of Commons through questions and statements.

KJ: What are some other ways to engage with an MP in support of the Day of the Girl?

In addition to writing letters, people can engage with their MP by meeting with them and their staff. They can host an event or town hall in September to raise awareness of the Day of the Girl and invite their MP to attend and speak. Petitions are also a great way to show support for a cause.

KJ: Do you have any tips for girls that want to get into politics?

Girls are powerful and have strong voices that need to be heard. Getting involved in your community and standing up for issues that you are passionate about is a great way to get into politics. Girls can also volunteer with their MP in their constituency or parliamentary offices.

Write to your Member of Parliament to ask them to support the Day of the Girl! 

Earlier this year, smartwater and Because I am a Girl went on a nationwide search to find a team of smartgirls to head to Rwanda on a once-in-a-lifetime trip with Olympian Jenn Heil.

The three lucky (and inspiring!) ladies are packed and ready to go – they’ll be leaving on a jet plane this week!

Meet the smartgirls

Christy
From: Victoria, BC
Cause: ending sexual violence against women

Caroline
From: Oakville, ON
Cause: leadership for girls

Kama
From: Port Alberni, BC
Cause: education and empowerment

Where they’re headed

Rwanda is a small, landlocked country in Sub-Saharan Africa, surrounded by Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Plan has worked there since 2007 and focuses on girls’ education, early childhood care and development, and youth empowerment.

Check it out: 5 Things You Didn’t Know About Rwanda

At the airport

Stay tuned for more to come about these amazing girls and their Rwandan adventure!

The smartgirls are our ambassadors! What would you like them to share with the girls they meet in Rwanda about what being a Canadian girl is all about?

Blossom Bath & Body is proof of the power of young women.

The owner, Shauna Podruzny, is a young woman herself. And she makes sure to fill her shelves with perfumes, soaps, and skin care products made by other young women from around the world.

Shauna is a big supporter of Because I Am A Girl, using her business savvy to raise awareness and funds for the campaign. Today, she shares her tips and tricks about mixing business with charity!

KJ: Can you tell me a bit about how you’ve been involved with Because I am a Girl?

I was first approached by Sara, who started the Markham Woman’s 5k and is a customer of mine at Blossom Lounge.

Last year we put together a team to run the Markham Woman’s 5k. There were five of us, and let me tell you…most of us aren’t runners! This year we donated a portion of that day’s sales at Blossom Lounge and did the gift bags for the run. And recently, during a street festival, we held a Because I am a Girl Pink LemonAid stand.

KJ: What made you decide to get involved with the Because I am a Girl campaign?

My business is all about highlighting products from young female entrepreneurs from around the world – I am one myself! So, I wanted to be a part of Because I am a Girl because of that.

Because I am a Girl highlights an issue that doesn’t get enough attention. People are really focused on what’s happening around them. Sometimes it’s hard to get them to look outside the comfort of their own homes. If we can, we should step outside and help girls that don’t have the means to take care of themselves, whether its through raising money or awareness. So, when Sara approached me, I decided to put all my charity efforts on helping Because I am a Girl.

KJ: You’re mixing business with activism – what made you decide to combine those two things?

All businesses have a platform to help through charity, and as a business owner it’s your duty. You have to use what you have to go beyond just getting yourself a paycheque. You have to ask, whether it’s local or international, how can I make a difference?

A lot of the fashion and beauty lines we feature in our store are by independent women entrepreneurs. The Because I am a Girl campaign is kind of the same thing. It’s about empowerment, and it ties directly with what we’re doing in the store. We’ve got lines from Brazil, Italy, France and Canada, but not a lot of stuff from developing nations. It would be nice to see more fashion and beauty products coming from there!

KJ: Tell me about the ins and outs of holding a Pink LemonAid stand.

It’s just a matter of girl power! Who doesn’t love pink lemonade? What makes it even better is that you’re not just buying a drink, you’re also helping girls.

Getting it set up costs next to nothing. Just buy cans of lemonade at the grocery store, mix it up, find a good spot and start selling. It’s effortless! The best thing is that people come up and talk to you so you can help spread the word about girls while raising money, too.

Make sure to check out Blossom Lounge on Facebook, Twitter and their blog!

Are you planning a Because I am a Girl Pink LemonAid Stand this summer? Tell us about it!

Darcy Turenne, photo by Sterling Lorence

Because I am a Girl Ambassador Darcy Turenne is on a quest to find other girls like her that kick butt in sports that are dominated by men.

She recently launched The Eighth Parallel, a powerful movie about girls and adventure sports in Indonesia. The movie features four girls that are pushing the boundaries of what girls are supposed to be and do in their communities: a rock climber, a mountain biker, a surfer and a motocross rider.

“I’m not like a boy,” says one of the girls in the film. “I’m a girl who rides bikes.”

Check out the rest of Darcy’s videos on Vimeo.

Do you do any of the sports featured in the video?

Hilary and girls living in a Plan supported dorm in Tanzania

KJ: Tell me a little bit about yourself!

I’m Hilary and I go to school in Toronto at the Bishop Strachan School. I’m a grade 10 student and in September I travelled to Tanzania with Plan Canada.

KJ: You headed to Tanzania last Fall – can you tell me a bit more about that experience?

We were gone for 10 days in total. We visited two girls’ dorms at schools – one was completed, and the other one was being built with the help of Sara and Maddy who we travelled with.

As we were driving up, we were looking around to see where people lived…they were so far from the school! When girls are able to stay at school they don’t have to worry about safety and that long walk walk. As well, they’re in an environment of learning and studying so they can focus on school work more than at home.

After visiting the schools we went for a safari in the Serengeti. The coolest thing we got to see there was a whole pack of lions, with a few baby cubs. They came up to to our cars and licked the tires. We also saw zebras, giraffes and elephants.

KJ: How were girls’ lives different in Tanzania compared to Canada? How were they the same?

One of the things they asked was whether a lot of teenage girls get pregnant in Canada. It is so prevalent in Tanzania, and one of the reasons so many girls don’t end up finishing school. In Canada, it happens but not to the same extent.

The thing we have in common is big dreams and goals. One of the girls wanted to be a pilot. Another wanted to work in the Tanzanian embassy and get the chance to travel to Canada.

I go to an all girls school with the motto girls can do anything. There’s that drive to do whatever you want to do as your job. The girls I met in Tanzania really weren’t going to let their situations hold them back – just like us, they were determined to achieve their dreams.

KJ: How have you been involved in the Because I am a Girl campaign since coming home?

Well, Sara and Maddy who we travelled with to Tanzania hold a fundraising run each year to raise money for the Because I am a Girl campaign. This year, my mom and I ran the Pink LemonAid stand at the Markham Girls and Women 5k to help raise money.

Also, at BSS, we wear a uniform all year. On Grub Days we can wear regular clothes if we donate $2 to a charity that we vote on. It’s been Because I am a Girl two years in a row!

KJ: What impact has going to Africa had on the way you see the world?

The girls at the dorm held a dinner for us an put on a play where they told us about the barriers they face just because they are girls. And they also told us that the biggest way to change this is through education. It shows girls what they are capable of and that they can be leaders in their community.

I realized how they are breaking down those barriers and how happy they are to have this opportunity.

KJ: What’s your advice for girls that want to get involved in the girls’ movement?

The first step is checking out the website, if you’re not sure on some of the issues or if you want to help but don’t know how.

The Pink LemonAid stand was also great. It’s easy to do. We were raising money, but also lots of people asked us about the Because I am a Girl campaign so we were raising awareness too.

Diana in Sudan with women using a fuel efficient stove

One month after Diana Gee-Silverman joined Plan’s emergency program team, disaster struck Haiti in the form of a massive earthquake. Diana has been busy ever since.

As Diana explains, Plan deals with two kinds of emergencies – ones that happen suddenly, like the Haitian earthquake, and those that are ongoing, like conflict in Sudan.

I had the chance to catch up with Diana and ask her about the current situation in Sudan, and also what it’s like to work as a program manager in emergencies. Here’s what she had to say:

KJ: You used to live in Sudan when it was one country – can you give a quick summary about the referendum and upcoming split?

DGS: In January 2011, Sudan’s citizens voted to divide their country into two brand new countries: South Sudan and North Sudan. The decision to split came as a result of years of conflict between the two halves of Africa’s largest country. The split will become official on July 9, 2011.

KJ: What do you think this means for the country and its people?

DGS: It will mean more displaced people on both sides. Southerners living in the North will move back to the South, and vice versa. Even though people are heading back to where they came from, if they haven’t been there for a while it might mean that they don’t have the support structures that they need.

South Sudan has extremely limited infrastructure. For example, people have been on the run for so long that farmer’s fields have been left uncultivated. In a conflict situation, there are obstacles to planting and harvesting food. People are concerned that they may be pushed off their land at any time, or that if they do try to grow crops they will be taken away.

Did you know: South Sudan, roughly the size of France, has only 50 kilometers of paved roads and almost no public electrical power. It also lacks public water and sanitation systems.

KJ: Sudan is often in media as country at war and in deep internal conflict – do you have another side of the country and people to share?

DGS: Years of conflict have made people very resilient. They still lead lives…they get married, have families and raise kids. You can’t say that they are normal lives – that wouldn’t be true, but they still have lives. Kids still have fun, they still play soccer on the street.

KJ: What do you think it would be like to grow up as a girl in Sudan from your experience living there?

DGS: I don’t know! It’s so far removed from my experience. I’ve got two master’s degrees and I’ve been in 50 different countries. I grew up in a country that has health care, I was vaccinated as a child, I never was forced to leave my home. It’s like apples and oranges. I couldn’t imagine what life would be like for one of the people staying in the displacement camps. It’s hard to put my feet in their shoes.

KJ: What was your experience personally as a woman living in Sudan?

DGS: It’s very different for me being a foreign woman, compared to the lives of local women. As an educated woman in Sudan there is more freedom to work, to be out of the house, to live the life they want.

KJ: Can you tell me a little bit about your role as an NGO worker overseas? What does that really mean?

DGS: I’m not a nurse, not a doctor, not an engineer, but as a program manager what I do allows these kinds of people to get their job done. There are always delays and things don’t go your way, but the most important thing is to be flexible and just roll with whatever happens.

The job allows me to experience lots of different places and learn bits and pieces of new languages. But, there are also challenges. It’s hard to maintain relationships with friends and family, and I miss stuff like lattes and movie theatres.

Diana’s Top 3 Tips for getting involved in emergency work:

• Read LOTS: Anything you can get your hands on, including newspapers, books and novels.
• Volunteer: At the beginning, Diana had to work two jobs to afford to go overseas.
• Do your homework: Before you head overseas, learn as much as possible about the organization you’re going with. Make sure that it is well recognized and respected.