Words With Heart is super proud to announce that our first donation of $1062 has been made to One Girl, which is enough to give three girls access to education in Sierra Leone! This donation equates to $1 for every notebook and journal we sold during our crowd-funding campaign. So thank you, fantastic supporters – this is all because of YOU.
One Girl is a non-profit organisation who believe that EVERY girl has the right to an education– no matter where she is born, how much her parents earn, what her culture says, or what religion she adheres to. Every girl deserves the opportunity to learn, grow and be the best she can be. They’re on a mission to educate 1 million girls across Africa by 2020, and they’ve started their work in Sierra Leone – one of the toughest places on earth to be born a girl.
The funds will go to four girl focused projects, one of which is called Business Brains. With an unemployment rate of over 60%, it is important that girls in Sierra Leone leave school with the skills required to start their own business.
This is where Business Brains can help. This year, they have supplied 78 women and girls with adequate knowledge of entrepreneurship and literacy so they can start their own small business. The results were spectacular. This is Sarah’s Story:
Sarah, one of the participants raced home to her mum and asked for a $1 loan after the training had finished. Her mum gave her the money. Sarah visited the local market and collected all the ingredients she needed to make butterscotch. After cooking it all up, she began selling it around her community. Within a week she’d paid her mum back the loan, and now she is earning between $2 – $3 a week selling her butterscotch.
While this amount may not seem like much, it is enough to ensure Sarah gets at least one meal per day. This year One Girl are scaling up that program to reach more than 14,000 girls across Sierra Leone.
Want to do more to help? You can! One Girl is calling out to do something most people would of never thought they would have to do again – don a school dress. It’s called the Do It In A Dress Campaign, and it’s brilliant. To participate, you grab a school dress and complete some pretty awesome sounding challenges, such as completing fun runs/ marathons, going bungee jumping or even hosting your own party, all while wearing a dress. If you raise $300 dollars, you can provide one girl in Sierra Leone with education. Pretty special, huh? To get involved, or to support someone else’s Do It In A Dress activities, all you need to do is click here.
