Maggie Doyne and the Kopila Valley Children's Home graced the homepage of the nytimes.com today!
She’s the First is thrilled to report that Maggie Doyne, founder of the Kopila Valley Children’s Home and School, was just featured in the NY Times Magazine and on the homepage of nytimes.com this morning!
Well-deserved! We are so proud because Maggie’s school is in our directory, one of our carefully selected partner programs of where you can sponsor a girl. In his article “D.I.Y. Foreign-Aid Revolution,” Nicholas Kristof applauded the efforts of young women like Maggie who are “driven by a passion to create a better world…in particular, a better world for women.”
After high school graduation, Maggie embarked on a “gap year” to work with impoverished children in India, and then traveled to a rural Himalayan village that changed her life. In this village, Maggie found that school was a luxury most children couldn’t afford. She befriended a young Nepalese girl named Hema who couldn’t attend school. Maggie resolved to pay for Hema’s education. For just $15, Maggie sent Hema to kindergarten and asked herself, “If I can help one girl, why not five? Why not 10?” In a life-changing move, Maggie telephoned her parents and asked them to send her life-savings to Nepal. Immediately, Maggie began working with locals to construct an orphanage in rural Nepal. In just a few months, Maggie raised $25,000 to continue construction. After winning the DoSomething.org $100,000 grand prize and being named CosmoGirl of the Year, Maggie’s efforts quickly became nationally recognized.
At just 23, Maggie is now fluent in Nepalese and serves as principal and founder of a school that houses 200 young Nepalese children. If you’re moved by Maggie’s story and would like to sponsor a young girl at the Kopila Valley Children’s Home, visit http://shesthefirst.org/directory. For just $300, you can help empower a community by educating a girl.
Journalist Nicholas Kristof, who wrote the article, has been a long-time advocate of girls’ education in the developing world. In the phenomenal book he wrote with his wife Sheryl Wudunn — Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity — he hopes to instill in readers the idea that “the best way to fight poverty and extremism is to educate and empower women and girls.” Last month, I attended New York Women in Communications’ “A Conversation with Nicholas Kristof” event and book-signing with She’s the First President Tammy, where we were able to make a brief introduction to Mr. Kristof. Next up, a few She’s the First team members will be attending his lecture at Syracuse University on November 3rd and have the chance to meet him!
Read the full article on Maggie’s amazing work here. Maggie, we will continue to do all we can to support you. We hope to bring many more sponsors your way — Mackenzie Olson was the first!
