Monthly Archives: September 2011

“First” Ever She’s the First Book Hangout on Google+!

If you want to change the world, chances are you scooped up TOMS founder and Chief Shoe Giver Blake Mycoskie’s Start Something That Matters as soon as it hit Amazon earlier this month.

In that case, we’d love to have you join the “first” ever She’s the First book club hangout THIS Sunday! Even if you haven’t read the book but are interested in learning about what it’s like starting a movement, like TOMS or She’s the First, join us. We’ll be meeting via Google + hangout at 2:30 pm EST, and there are still a few spots available. Tweet @shesthefirst to RSVP!

Have you never done a Google+ hangout before? It’s easy — you just need a webcam. When you tweet us, we’ll get your email to invite you!

– by Claire Biggs

 


Posted in Arts & Books | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Clinton On Global Economy, Empowerment In Pakistan & More


Global Economy Depends on Women, Says Clinton
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke at the Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation’s (APEC) Women and the Economy Summit on Friday, where she stressed the importance of women’s involvement in the economy. “By increasing women’s participation in the economy and enhancing their efficiency and productivity, we can have a dramatic impact on the competitiveness and growth of our economies.” Read more.

Women Empowerment Through Social Entrepreneurship in Pakistan
Two young Pakistani women are making a difference for the lives of underprivileged women living in Pakistan. Khalida Brohi, 23, who hails from a tribal area of Balochistan, and Saba Gul, 28, part of Lahore’s upper economic class, are social entrepreneurs who have created innovative programs aimed at empowering women and girls in Pakistan. Read more.

Girls’ Education a Priority in South Sudan for USAID
Education is among the highest priorities for the people of the newly formed nation South Sudan. USAID is on the frontlines of this mission, especially when it comes to educating girls. Over the past five years, USAID has given over 9,000 scholarships in an effort to increase school attendance and also raise low literacy rates. Read more.

UK Launches New Program to Help Poorest Girls in the World
Britain has just launched the Girls Education Challenge, a new program that will help up to a million of the poorest girls in the world get an education. The program will call on NGOs, charities and the private sector in order to find better ways to get underprivileged girls in school. The program will focus on girls living throughout Africa and Asia. Read more.

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Fast Company

“With She’s the First, Tammy Tibbetts Uses Social Media for Social Change”

Can social media drive social change? 25-year-old Tammy Tibbetts is trying to figure that out through She’s The First, a non-profit dedicated to helping girls around the world to become the first in their family to graduate. From tie-dye cupcakes to mapping the impact of fundraisers, Tibbetts has been experimenting with creative ways to raise money to put girls in the developing world through school.

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Why We’re Baking Our Little Hearts Out

Each week, we’re shining the spotlight on a bake sale team so that they can share their inspiration and ideas for the Tie-Dye Cupcake Bake-Off, a sweet movement to sponsor girls with She’s the First.  Join by signing up to host a fundraising bake sale during November 1-8 at shesthefirst.org/cupcakes!

Maisy in Guatemala

Maisy on her STF360 trip to Starfish One by One in Guatemala

Hello Cupcake Warriors! My name is Maisy Page and I am a graduate student, the Founder/President of She’s the First*{FGCU}, STF Researcher, and leader of the FGCU Tie-Dye Cupcake Bake-Off team!

It’s amazing to watch the growth and progress of this cupcake campaign and hard to believe it was only a year ago that we read the blog posts about the first famous tie-dye cupcakes at Notre Dame!

STF Tie-dye Cupcakes

Our very first attempt at baking the famous tie-dye cupcakes!

Our exec board for She’s the First*{FGCU} is spearheading our sale for November, and these ladies are awesome! Our VP, Emily Kahler, and our Secretary, Stephanie Heath, helped me bake our very first batch of tie-dye cupcakes for our very first STF*{FGCU} meeting! Our cupcakes ended up being not only adorable but delicious also. We made mini-cupcakes for the meeting because we thought that way people could get a bite-size taste of what is to come in November!

At FGCU, we’ve ran into some challenges about actually having our bake sale on campus due to the university’s contract with food vendors, but I feel like this just gave us the opportunity to be a little bit more creative with how we are going to plan, advertise, and get people interested in our bake sale. So, we’re not having a bake sale at all! That’s right, I said, we’re not having a bake sale at all. We are doing the true form of a bake-off! In order to abide with university regulations, we are turning our bake sale into a campus-wide event! We’re still working out the details, but our preliminary thoughts are to use one of the rooms in the student union for competing on-campus organizations to set up their very own cupcake booths. We will then charge admission for people to come to the event and prizes will be awarded for “most creative display,” “most creative cupcakes,” “best tasting cupcakes,” and then an overall winner. We think fostering a little bit of healthy competition amongst our university community is just the right kind of incentive to get people involved.

In the next month, we will be going to other organization’s meetings and chapters to promote the bake-off and get them signed up. I would be remissed if I didn’t mention the constant PR work that our faculty advisor, Dr. Sandra Pavelka, has been doing. Dr. Pavelka, or as we lovingly call her, “Dr. P,” has been behind me 150% since I decided to start She’s the First*{FGCU} and has been tirelessly recruiting people to join the organization and the bake-off.

Through the fun of enjoying the company of our friends while baking, to deciding which color neon sprinkles to use on the tops of our multi-colored bites of scrumptiousness, we haven’t forgot why we’re doing this. Our cupcakes are creating change. Our cupcakes can send a girl to school, and for this reason, we bake our little hearts out.

Posted in Florida Gulf Coast University, Tie-Dye Cupcake Bake-Off | Tagged , | 1 Comment

How a Cupcake Changed My Life — and Hers

the original poster!

I have a bright pink poster hanging in my Notre Dame dorm room that reads “She’s the First: Tie-Dye Cupcake Sale September 15, 2010 Help us send a girl to school in the developing world!” At the time, little did I know, this “girl” would quickly turn into three, and before I knew it, I’d be on a plane to spend my summer in Nepal.

A few days before I left for my trip to Kopila Valley School, I received a little envelope in the mail. Inside was a crumpled note from one of the girls my Notre Dame soccer team and I sponsor, Hima Tamata.

This is Hima at age 7

The note read, “Dear Lindsay, you are so nice. I love you. Lindsay and Hima are best friends.” To say it made my day would be an understatement. When I made it to Kopila Valley I couldn’t wait to finally meet Hima, the girl I had been following on Maggie Doyne’s blog for months, and tell her how thankful I was for that note. But before I could get a word out, Hima walked up to me and starting singing, “let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.” At first I had no idea what she was referring to considering it was around 90 degrees in Surkhet everyday. Then Hima pulled out the Christmas card that my Notre Dame friends and I sent her back in December. She had saved it in a plastic bag in the front pocket of her backpack. When you open the card it plays a Christmas carol. Hima had memorized the song and had even memorized the note I had written inside. She named each of the girls that had signed the card and asked, “Are these all my friends in America?” Hima’s eyes got so big when I replied yes. All she could say back was “oh ma gawd.”

As I spent more and more time with Hima I began to understand how one little girl could inspire a person like Maggie to build an entire children’s home and school. When I was with Hima I would forget how much she’s been through. She’s such a happy, energetic, carefree young girl. I really don’t think there’s a word to perfectly describe her.

Lindsay and Hima at Kopila Valley School

She still has a long way to go — she’s 12 years old and in the second grade but that doesn’t seem to defeat her in any way.  She has this “silent self-confidence” about her that I believe will get her to the places she wants to go in life.

Above all, Hima has the biggest heart of anyone I know. I gave her a journal the first day we met so we could continue to write notes to each other once I went home. A few days before I left Hima pulled out the journal and gave me 8 notes, one for each of the girls that signed the Christmas card. Each said something like “Dear Maddie, I love you. My name is Hima. I read in 2 class. My mom breaks rock. You are my best friend. Hima loves Maddie.” I read through each of the following notes addressed to Courtney, Melissa, Jordan, and a couple other girls but I stopped when I got to the last one, it read, “Dear Dreams.” I couldn’t figure it out at first but then I realized the last sentence I had written in the card was “Follow your dreams!”

Hima

Hima was confused and thought that “Dreams” was one of her friends in America. I was about to break it to her that “Dreams” really isn’t a person, but then she turned to me and said, “I am so lucky to have 9 friends in America. I work hard in school so one day I come visit and I see Dreams.” After taking a second to think about it, I decided maybe Hima is on to something after all. Right now her friend “Dreams” might not exist, but Hima’s right: If she continues to work hard in school, one day “Dreams” will be true.

Now when I look at that bright pink poster in my dorm I can’t help but smile. I’ve surrounded it with several pictures of happy Kopila girls. I always think about how crazy it is that something as simple as cupcake can make such a profound change in a girl’s life half way around the world. But what I’m starting to realize is that the same cupcake has made such a profound change in my own life. Getting to know Maggie, Hima, and all the other Kopila girls over the past year has shown me that we may be young, but together we really do have the power to make a difference in this big world. That’s what I love about She’s the First — we set out to empower girls around the world without realizing we are empowering ourselves.

Posted in Kopila Valley Children's Home and School, Notre Dame | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

It’s Sweater Season…Even in Uganda!

While we’re bracing ourselves for fall here in the states, the students at Arlington Academy of Hope in Uganda are preparing for cooler temperatures, too! Check out their brand new sweaters. Is anyone else getting an urge to wear maroon this season?

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Celebrating Indian Independence Day at Shanti Bhavan

[Editor’s Note: This is the final guest post from Alison Perry, our guest blogger who just completed her second stint as a volunteer teacher at Shanti Bhavan in India.]

Recent Shanti Bhavan graduates in their Sarees to celebrate Independence Day

Recent Shanti Bhavan graduates in their sarees to celebrate Independence Day

 

Monday August 15th was national Independence Day in India, so classes were cancelled across the country for a long weekend. At Shanti Bhavan, this meant that the batch of graduates (who are now studying at top colleges in Bangalore) were able to come “home” for a visit.

To celebrate, all of the students threw together their skills to put on performances for the school. I work with the choir, so we sang some new songs, along with “Memory,” an old favorite of Dr. George’s [founder of SB]. There were a series of dance acts choreographed by Elise, a volunteer who dances in New York. The young ladies from the fifth grade took center stage to the beat of Justin Bieber’s “Baby,” while the older students performed to “DJ Got Us Falling in Love.” The real highlight of the evening, however, was a break dance choreographed and performed by three older students: Prem, Praveen, and Lily. Lily really held her own between the two boys, dancing front and center and keeping the audience’s eyes with her expressive, uninhibited moves. I was so impressed by the confidence of the students. Though many of the acts were imperfect, none of the students felt embarrassed. They were all eager to try their best, without fear about the outcome.

After two days of exuberant performances, Monday arrived sunny and warm—perfect weather for the Independence Day ceremony. At 9 A.M. the school gathered for the hoisting of the flag. Many of the young ladies had been up all morning tying their sarees in honor of the holiday. The entrance to Shanti Bhavan was a mosaic of brilliantly saturated hues and glittering silver embroidery. The Indian national flag was hoisted into the air in a flutter of purple blossoms. The students solemnly sang the national anthem, their voices holding together despite the absence of piano or conductor.

Following the ceremony we all retired to the dining hall for a special breakfast of potatoes and puffed bread. After such an exciting weekend, we all needed the rest of the day to recuperate before starting classes again on Tuesday!

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Brianne Riviello

Documentary nerd and crafty MacGyveress with a healthy appetite for trying out life in new cities.
When I’m not on shesthefirst.org, I’m surfing: Thoughtcatalog.com
Trailblazer I’d Like to Meet: The six-year-olds at Kibera School for Girls in this video.
My First: First in my family to move to Brooklyn… and LA, Vancouver, and Ithaca.
brianne@shesthefirst.org, @bmriviello

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Extra! Extra! STF Wins Campus Media Group PSA Contest!

When fellow campus coordinator, Casey, and I were brainstorming our goals for She’s the First*{Campus} this summer, we decided to encourage every campus chapter to get published in their college newspaper. After all, how many times do we see students flipping through the school paper in the dining hall, checking out the result of the last sports game, filling out the crossword, or looking for what’s new on campus?

Turns out Campus Media Group was 10 steps ahead of us! Each year, Campus Media Group, “the college marketing experts,” select one non-profit organization with an important message for college students to publicize through a PSA contest. This year’s winner is…drum roll, please…She’s the First!

So what exactly does this mean for She’s the First*{Campus}? Campus Media Group will work with the 1,800 college newspapers that the agency represents, asking them to donate ad space for the She’s the First PSA at least once this year. That exposure in print and online in all the big campus publications is worth an estimated $100,000 in free advertising! She’s the First*{Campus} has been growing fast this year and we KNOW that this publicity will help us explode and reach out to excited college students across the country. We are so honored that Campus Media Group chose us for this opportunity and can’t wait to keep the STF community posted on what our final PSA looks like and the response we get from schools across the country!

Want more information on the Campus Media Group PSA contest? Check out their blog post about it here.

Thinking about starting your own chapter of She’s the First*{Campus} at your college or high school? Apply here! Send any questions to campus@shesthefirst.org.

Congrats, She’s the First, and thank you, Campus Media Group!

 

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Tie-Dye Cupcake Team: Oklahoma State, Led by Stephanie Taylor!

Each week, we’re shining the spotlight on a bake sale team so that they can share their inspiration and ideas for the Tie-Dye Cupcake Bake-Off, a sweet movement to sponsor girls with She’s the First.  Join by signing up to host a fundraising bake sale during November 1-8 at shesthefirst.org/cupcakes!

Jordan, Miss Native American OSU, Jenn Murray, Miss Asian OSU, and Stephanie Taylor, Miss Black OSU

Hi!  My name is Stephanie Taylor and I am one the executive team leaders for Oklahoma State University’s She’s the First bake sale!  I am so excited for the event and the big cupcake sale.  I think it is awesome the impact we can have as college women and men on one little girl’s life in a third world country.  This was the reason I first got involved with She’s the First.  I got to meet with She’s the First’s lovely founder, Tammy Tibbetts, while interning in New York this summer.  While I was so excited to be immersed in the magazine industry, which is definitely my future profession, I was even more excited to learn about the nonprofit world and to meet a young woman using her position and skills to impact girls nationwide.

Jenn Murray, Miss Asian OSU, Erica DeLoera, Miss Hispanic OSU, and Stephanie Taylor, Miss Black OSU

So I decided to lead a She’s the First cupcake sale at OSU!  I knew that I wanted to get a diverse group of people involved.

Last spring semester, I won Miss Black Oklahoma State University.  It has opened up a lot of leadership/service positions for myself around the campus and has allowed me to meet a number of people around the university. It has also allowed me to become friends with the other pageant girls at OSU: Miss OSU, Miss Hispanic OSU, Miss Asian OSU and Miss Native American OSU.  When I was brainstorming about a strong group of leaders to help lead She’s the First, I instantly thought of these girls.

I emailed/Facebooked the girls in July to inform them about what I was doing and invited them to help lead the event with me.  Luckily, they all agreed and were super excited!  The game plan was for each of us to be responsible for getting at least 5 volunteers for She’s the First.  The power of 5! It is a really good idea to have a leadership team. These are the girls I can look to for contacting volunteers, talking to potential sponsors, and for brainstorming ideas on how to make the event great.

Since school has started, all of our work has been about getting the word out about She’s the First and talking to people!  We got our paperwork approved to have the cupcake sale on campus for the week of October 31 to November 4.   We are planning to have it every day in two different places on campus (one inside and one outside), because you never know what Oklahoma weather will be like.  We also discussed and decided on pricing for the cupcakes.

We each are going to have our own sign-up sheets and we will get as many people involved as we can from now until the last week in October.  From there, we will divide up our volunteers into teams: one for buying supplies, one for baking, one for advertising, one for working the cupcake stand. The last week before the bake sale, we will buy supplies and advertise like crazy!!!  We will be Facebooking, tweeting, emailing, making fliers, getting stories in campus publications, and chalking the sidewalks of campus (a big tradition at OSU).  The Sunday before the cupcake sale, we will have our first “bake night,” and then another one every night that week until Thursday night.  Friday will be our last day for the bake sale.

The great thing about having the different pageant girls involved is that we will reach a wider scope of people.  We have a number of different sororities, living communities, and clubs, such as the African American Student Association, Hispanic Student Association, and Asian American Student Association.

The week of the event our major focus will be continued advertising of She’s the First through social media and making sure our cupcake sale is well marketed for the week of the event, which means having pretty signs at the cupcake sale, having cute napkins/ plates (it’s all about presentation), and happy, peppy music that goes along with the message of She’s the First.  Also, it will be important to hand out fliers at the cupcake sale event so people know where their money is going to. We are hoping to get a blown-up photo of the girl that OSU will be raising money for to set up at our table.  If not that, we want to get a big picture of girls that She’s the First has helped so we can show people where all the hard work and money are going.

We (the executive team) try to have bi-weekly meetings!  It can be hard! Trust me, these pageant ladies and myself are very busy, but that is exactly why I picked them.  They are dedicated and hard working and all about making a difference.  Our next meeting is next week — we will come together to look over our list of volunteers so far and start dividing them up into teams: Buying supplies, baking, advertising, setting up the stands, volunteering at the stands, tearing down the stands.

We are all so excited to make a difference in one girl’s life!

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Win This! Get Your Friends to Sign Up for Bake Sales!

How awesome was it that MTV Act and I Heart Daily, two of our favorite publications, helped spread the word about the Tie-Dye Cupcake Bake-Off this past week?! To continue the excitement, we have a new surprise in store for those of you who are “pre-heating your ovens” with us for the big November 1-8 cupcake fundraising campaign! 100% of what you raise will sponsor girls’ education in these schools.

The talented Phoebe and Cara, authors and bloggers from Big Girls Small Kitchen, are offering one lucky tie-dye cupcake enthusiast/girls’ education advocate a copy of their new cookbook!

Follow these steps to win:

  1. Tell everyone you know about She’s the First (this is easy, and we bet you already do it)
  2. Get everyone you know to sign up to host a bake sale (let’s get this map below covered in cupcakes)
  3. Make sure when your friends sign up, that they write your name in the Referred by field
  4. Next Tuesday, September 28, we’ll randomly pick a name from the referrals to win the cookbook!

Start telling your friends that you might be able to test out some tasty new recipes on them this fall, like Cara and Phoebe’s Oversized Chocolate Chip Muffins or No Knead Bread, if you win! The more friends you refer, the better chance you have.

Even if you don’t win, you should definitely check out the Big Girls Small Kitchen blog — there’s a College Section, too. And they happen to love She’s the First tie-dye cupcakes!


View She’s the First*{Campus} Tie-Dye Cupcake Bake-Off in a larger map

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Northern Uganda Gets New Ambassador for Girls’ Ed, NGOs Promote Girls’ Ed in Ghana

Northern Uganda Gets New Ambassador for Girls’ Ed
Daughter of the Ugandan President, Natasha Museveni Karugire, has been installed as the patron of girls’ education in Nebbi Diocese. Natasha will mentor young women in career and educational goals in provinces that have strong cultural beliefs of women being the weaker sex. She said, “It is time to come out of the shadows and do something. I am ready to support girls’ education in Nebbi and Zombo districts.” Read more on the first daughter’s efforts here.

NGOs Promote Girls Education in Bole District of Ghana
The Bole District Director of Education in Ghana, Mr Alhassan S. Moomen, has said working in partnership with NGOs has helped to improve the education of girls in the district. He credits the dispersement of school uniforms, sandals, bags, and learning materials as a great assistance to the district. Read more here.

Plea for More Government Orphanages for Girls in India
Despite there being nearly 65 private homes for orphaned children in the Coimbatore district of India, there is only one Government-run orphanage. Philanthropists and members of NGOs believe that there is an urgent need to provide homes and also education to the children of the region, especially the girls. Read more here.

Kristof’s Latest Post a Tribute to Microsaving
In his latest column, New York Times reporter Nick Kristof tells the story of Jane Ngoiri, a woman who turned her life around through microsaving. Read the column here.

Denmark Elects Its First Female PM
After all the votes were counted, Helle Thorning-Schmidt is set to become the first female Prime Minister of Denmark. She defeated the incumbent Lars Lokke Rasmussen with her platform of tax raises and increased public spending.  Thorning-Schmidt said of her victory, “We did it… today we’ve written history.” Read more here.

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Teaching English to the Aunties at Shanti Bhavan

Editor’s Note: This is the second post from Alison Perry, our guest blogger currently completing her second stint as a volunteer teacher at Shanti Bhavan in India.


Some of the "Aunties" who are learning English at Shanti Bhavan

Last week was exciting for all of the women here at Shanti Bhavan in India, and not just the students. SB hosts a dozen or so “Aunties,” who tend to the children, supervise their dorms, get them up in the morning, and after their welfare. Some of the Aunties have been at SB since the school was founded, while others are young Indian women working for a few years before they get married.

Many of the Aunties, particularly those who have not been here long, speak only minimal English, so me and the other SB volunteers have started teaching them “Auntie English.” During a free period, we share useful vocabulary and sometimes help them read children’s books. Many of us feel like this is the most rewarding class to teach, because while most of the students and staff do speak the local dialect of Tamil, English is the language of the school, so the Aunties are eager to master it. They gain confidence in being able to communicate with the children and the volunteers.

It’s an SB tradition that at 11:05 a.m. the whole school gathers for assembly, at which we stay a prayer, make announcements, and share world news. Amanda, one of the other volunteers, decided that as a project, the Aunties would present the daily news to the school—in English! The Aunties prepared tirelessly, researching headlines on the Internet, transcribing them into their own words, and making sure they understood the news stories. On the morning of “Auntie News” the entire school was anticipating an exciting assembly, and we weren’t disappointed. The Aunties presented on everything from Middle East unrest to health advice. Though they stumbled over some big words like “rhythmic gymnastics,” they maintained great poise and composure. Afterwards, we could see how proud the Aunties were to have spoken in English before the entire school. It was a really memorable day!

Best,
Alison

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The Winning Cupcake T-Shirt Designs!

Thank you to everyone who entered and voted on entries to the Tie-Dye Cupcake T-Shirt Design Contest with Her Campus! The judges — Annie Wang & She’s the First-sponsored student Jancy in India — reviewed them all and picked their 7 favorite designs, factoring in your likes and comments! Here are the winners! Click “read more” to see them and find out what happens next…
Continue reading →

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Meet the Students of Kibera School for Girls in Kenya!

 

Pre-K students at the Kibera School for Girls

Pre-K students at the Kibera School for Girls in Kenya

While it’s always exciting to share with you the fun field trips and activities of the busy students at the Kibera School for Girls in Kenya, I’m so pleased that I can now introduce you to each and every one of the school’s students!  Just a few days ago, Shining Hope for Communities added a wonderful new addition to their website – an online photo gallery that profiles each student with an adorable photo and a brief biography.  By browsing through the gallery, you’ll meet Grace, a Pre-K student who has big dreams of being a pilot and collapses in giggles on a daily basis. You’ll also meet Christian, a first grader whose love of reading is only outdone by her love of her classmates and teachers.  You’ll learn who was the first Pre-K student to read the word “strawberry” (Elizabeth!) and whose favorite book is Clifford (Lillian!).  These are the shining star students of the Shining Hope for Communities’ Kibera School for Girls!

 

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Kenyan Teachers End Strike, Funding Higher Ed, and More

Report: Uganda Has Highest Female Drop-out Rate
A recent United Nations report shows that Uganda has the highest dropout rate in East Africa, with possible reasons being pregnancy, early marriage, costs, and family responsibilities. And because the Ugandan Education System does not allow girls who drop out of primary school to return (although boys are allowed to) these girls are almost always destined for a dismal future. Read more here.

Kenyan Teachers End Strike
After a week-long strike, the Kenya National Union of Teachers called off their strike yesterday, which started after the teachers demanded permanent and pensionable terms. In addition to new pension plans for all teachers, members of the union who went on strike will not be penalized, and the government has promised to come up with a long-term strategy to address the shortage of nearly 75,000 teachers countrywide. Read more here.

Indian Children Contracted HIV from Government-Hospital Blood Transfusions
23 Children with thalassemia (a rare genetic disorder that requires frequent blood transfusions) tested positive for HIV after receiving tainted blood transfusions at a government-run hospital in the Gujarat state. State government spokesman Jai Narayan Vyas stated that he has sent a team of doctors to investigate. The children are all from poor families and were given free blood transufusions because they could not afford them. Full story is over at the Huffington Post.

In Africa’s Universities, Quantity Threatens Quality
Uganda’s Makerere University, one of the continent’s most prestigious higher education institutions, is facing problems because of a shortage of professors and a lack of funds to pay them. Check out The Guardian UK’s article that takes a look at Uganda’s—and many other countries’—crisis: how to fund higher education at public universities and keep up with high academic standards.

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Learning Literature at Shanti Bhavan

[Editor's Note: Meet our newest guest blogger, Alison Perry, who’s currently completing her second stint as a volunteer teacher at Shanti Bhavan in India. The sophomore at Tulane will be sharing a few of her thoughts, photos and experiences with us!]

Students in an elective literature class at Shanti Bhavan

Hello from India! At Shanti Bhavan,  I teach Elective Literature to the 11th grade, which is actually a small class of only two girls, Kishori and Catherine, who are pursuing the liberal arts tract.

I really enjoy working with the girls in such a personal setting. We are able to have substantive conversations, and I feel like I’m getting to know their personalities along the way. The smallness of the class is particularly good for Kishori and Catherine, because when I’ve seen them in larger classes, they are sometimes hesitant to participate.

We’ve been working for a week with William Blake’s poetry. At first, they were very outspoken in their dislike for Blake, but slowly but surely they are coming to appreciate his nuanced (and sometimes highly complex) work. Catherine is particularly excited by the idea that his poems were considered “sacrilegious,” since students at SB come from all religious backgrounds, from Christian to Hindu to Atheistic. But they are all excited and eager to talk about questions or God, creation, and religious organization.

Today, we had a particularly illuminating discussion on the idea of opposites. Blake’s theme of innocence versus experience sparked the question “can we have innocence without experience?” At first they both adamantly insisted that opposites can exist independently of one another, but after reading the poem “The Tyger,” they have begun to question this assumption.

What do you think of the girls’ curriculum? Do you remember studying Blake in high school?

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Girls in South Sudan Sit for Exams

Many students across the U.S. have said goodbye to the lazy days of summer and are once again hitting the books as a new school year officially kicks off. But while the semester is just getting underway here, that isn’t the case for the students of Project Education Sudan.

Girls at the Ayak Anguei Girls’ Primary Boarding School in South Sudan

Girls at at the Ayak Anguei Girls’ Primary School in South Sudan have been very busy this summer.  Not only have they overcome great challenges, from food shortages to celebrating the nation’s first independence day, but they are now busy sitting for mid-term exams.  This comes just months before the school, which currently has 415 students, will celebrate its first graduating class later this year!

We’d like to wish all of the girls good luck as they sit for exams!

Update on 9/14/11: When we posted this to our Facebook page, the Executive Director/Co-Founder of Project Education Sudan, Carol, responded:

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Kristof & Wilde Visit the Kibera School for Girls!

Kristof and Wilde visited Shining Hope for Communities while shooting the Half the Sky documentary

Kristof and Wilde visited Shining Hope for Communities while shooting the Half the Sky documentary. Photo from @NickKristof

Our friends at the Kibera School for Girls were visited by Nicholas Kristof and Olivia Wilde this week!  Kristof, an op-ed journalist for The New York Times and champion of girls’ education, is currently in Kenya working on the PBS documentary of his book, Half the Sky.  He co-wrote the internationally acclaimed book with his wife, Sheryl Wu Dunn.  Since September 4th, Kristof and Wilde have traveled through Kibera interviewing female entrepreneurs and, as Wilde tweeted, “starting spontaneous dance parties.”  More than 1,000 Facebook fans expressed excitement for their visit and showered the Kibera School for Girls with support. Kristof tweeted that despite the fact that malnourishment and worms are rampant in the Kibera slum, the girls at the Kibera School radiated hope.  Wilde added that the school was “extraordinary” and that the girls were “fantastic!”

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Let’s Dance! Bollywood Dance Class Will Sponsor Girl in India

iNFiN8 dancing at our She's the First Soiree last November!

In the mood to get your dance on? If you live in New York, then come join She’s the First on Sunday, September 18th for a special Bollywood Dance Class taught by the South-Asian Dance Company iNFiN8! For those of you who have been following us for awhile, they were the awesome group that performed at our first birthday celebration last November!) The proceeds of the class—and any additional donations—will go toward sponsoring a girl at our partner school Shanti Bhavan. The event is organized by Shanti Bhavan and iNFiN8, based in NYC/NJ area just like us, so we’re thrilled we can attend in person and support!

Keerthishree

iNFiN8′s goal is to sponsor Keerthishree, a 4th grader who dreams of being both a software engineer and singer when she grows up. You can learn more about the event on iNFiN8′s Facebook page and sign up for it here. Even if you can’t attend the class, you can still donate a few dollars to give Keerthishree the education she deserves to continue to have—and you can help her become the first software engineer AND singing pop star some day.

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