Today marks the International Day of the Girl Child, started in 2011 by the UN to raise awareness for abuses against girls across the globe.
64% of the world’s illiterate are women. This number means something. It means that either women are simply not smart world-wide, or that something is holding them back from their dreams and visions.
We know it is the latter.
In our corner of the earth HIV and AIDS, abuse and poverty are what’s holding our girl’s back from their destiny. We know that getting them in the classroom will not only benefit their futures, but the future of their families and communities.
Meet Mariam.
Mariam is a living testimony. She was taken advantage of and abused at a young age. She ended up pregnant, living with her aunt after her parents both died of AIDS. Her aunt encouraged her to have an abortion. Without a dime to her name, she performed the procedure from home, left to die.
Pastor Paul found her, took her to the nearest hospital, and saved her life. Once she was well, ROWAN placed her in a secondary school where she decided to use her story to impact every girl she met.
Today she is finishing her Communication Degree to spread the world about abortion and neglect- and to help train women to have a voice.
Faith is the currency of hope.
Education is the channel that hope passes through to see visible change.
Mariam’s life is our dream come true.
