Today’s post is not my usual. Instead it’s for the Girl Effect.
See, you may not know that despite my general non-touchy/feely vibe, I actually have a history of social work-y type jobs. I spent many years working in an array of positions dealing with social issues like homelessness, child abuse and domestic violence. I made the switch from non-profit to for-profit a few years ago when I finally realized I needed to actually pay my bills. I landed a sweet gig at a health-related market research firm (on account of my excellent assassin skillz). That’s a story for another day.
But that for-profit job has allowed me to make financial progress that I couldn’t make on the other salary while living in Manhattan (I perpetually hemorrhage cash while in the city). So last week while I hopped the train to the office, I thought about my financial situation and that of girls and women in other countries. I love to travel which makes me acutely aware of my privilege relative to others’ living situations. Travel is in and of itself a privilege and I truly don’t take that lightly. Acquiring a slightly more global perspective changes your worldview. You see and experience things differently. Parts of the world become part of you. And while that’s all pretty and rosy, let’s be real. Some parts of the world suck. Life expectancy blows, clean water is a day’s walk away, and some villages use kerosene for light resulting in countless burns and disfiguring accidents. And that’s not even touching on sex trafficking or domestic violence.
There’s been much discussion about helping developing nations make strides towards improving national living conditions. There are all kinds of solutions tossed around, but there is one point that seems to be reasonably uncontested: that women are key in making progress. Don’t get exactly why that is? Here, let me help.
See, who knew that Beyonce was sorta right with part of ”Run the World”. Note: I’m willfully ignoring many other parts of this video. Please play along.
“My persuasion can build a nation”. It’s actually true. As noted in the previous video, girls can start with helping their family, eventually moving on to a village and then an entire nation. Girls might not officially run the world just yet, but we can get there. Props to Beyonce.
So you’re not Beyonce and you’re not going to make a MadMax video with an army of chicks in varying forms of lingerie/flowy materials. Fine, slacker. I don’t want to hear your excuses. Just go to this link and donate $5 to the Girl Effect. Encourage others to donate to improve the lives of girls in developing nations -here’s the url: http://www.globalgiving.org/girleffect/ . Give a donation in honor of your Mom or sister because they had an impact on your life. Give a donation in honor of your yet-to-be-conceived daughter or niece because you know she’ll have countless advantages that other girls won’t. Just go and do it now. Like right now. Go. Chop chop.
Just in case you’re curious, I donated to girls sewing in Tanzania, because, well it’s just NOT one of my strengths. I fully support someone else doing it significantly better than me.
