by Jennifer Burden | Oct 11, 2016 | 2016, Girls, Inspirational, International, North America, USA
Save the Children lit up the Empire State Building red on October 11th, 2016 for International Day of the Girl, attracting attention to the rights of girls worldwide. Seen here is actress, Dakota Fanning, Save’s CEO and President, Carolyn Miles and from L-R super girls Colette, Miracle, Katie and Antonella. Photo credit: Save the Children
Look UP, New Yorkers!!! For the first time EVER the Empire State Building is RED today for International Day of the Girl!! This morning, World Moms Network was invited to cover Save the Children’s lighting of the Empire State Building in New York City. The ceremony included Carolyn Miles, President and CEO of Save the Children, actress Dakota Fanning, and 4 strong girls — Colette, Antonella, Kate and Miracle — who may appear small, but have incredibly large hearts. The girls used their voices today to make a statement for the rights of girls everywhere.
Kate is an American girl of 10 years old from Connecticut who sponsors two girls through Save the Children, one in Ethiopia and one in Uganda. She says that she sends a lot of letters to her girl counterparts overseas!
“Life is very different for the girls. They can’t just go to a supermarket like we do. They have to grow their own food.”, says Kate.
Kate explained that the girls have to walk to school, and their school is not very close. She says, “I can just take the bus and get to school in 15 minutes. They can’t.” Her sponsored children also don’t have as much time for after school activities like sports because they have to help out at home.
Kate dreams of going to Ethiopia and Uganda to meet her friends. Her sponsorship started as a holiday gift, and she enjoyed the global friendship so much that she asked to sponsor another girl.
Why the importance of focusing on girls? Carolyn Miles, CEO of Save the Children states,
“Girls are twice as likely to never start school than boys. And there are more girls out of school than boys.”
So not fair, right????
Some of the global issues that keep girls from getting the chance to hit the books are child marriage, societal pressures to help out at home while their brothers go to school, menstruation, and more.
Raising awareness to the issue was actress and artist, Dakota Fanning, who attracted the paparazzi to a cause that she is very passionate about. Dakota is a Save the Children Ambassador, and she spoke to the press about the importance of getting more girls in school worldwide. She totally shines. Please do follow and use the hashtag #SheShines to tell us who inspires you on this International Day of the Girl. Thank you, Dakota, for using your large platform for girls!
Save the Children Ambassador, Dakota Fanning, at the top of the Empire State Building for International Day of the Girl on October 11th, 2016. #SheShines Photo credit: Save the Children
Miracle joined the kid sponsors on the platform, but her story is not one of sponsorship, but of being sponsored in rural South Carolina. She was proud to join Save the Children to speak up for girls like her and seemed to hit it off instantly with her new girlfriends!
From L-R: Save the Children girl power: Kate, Miracle, Colette and Antonella. Photo credit: Save the Children.
World Moms Network is proud of these girls for raising their voices for girls everywhere! If you’d like to sponsor a child, please go to Save the Children.
Here’s a sneak peak at the red Empire State Building! (Better photo to come!)
The Empire State Building was lit red on October 11th, 2016 for International Day of the Girl by Save the Children. Photo credit to Marshall Kanfer.
This is an original post to World Moms Network’s founder and CEO, Jennifer Burden in New Jersey, USA. Jennifer is the proud sponsor of a girl in the USA through Save the Children and voluntarily covered this story.
Jennifer Burden is the Founder and CEO of World Moms Network, an award winning website on global motherhood, culture, human rights and social good. World Moms Network writes from over 30 countries, has over 70 contributors and was listed by Forbes as one of the “Best 100 Websites for Women”, named a “must read” by The New York Times, and was recommended by The Times of India.
She was also invited to Uganda to view UNICEF’s family health programs with Shot@Life and was previously named a “Global Influencer Fellow” and “Social Media Fellow” by the UN Foundation. Jennifer was invited to the White House twice, including as a nominated "Changemaker" for the State of the World Women Summit. She also participated in the One Campaign’s first AYA Summit on the topic of women and girl empowerment and organized and spoke on an international panel at the World Bank in Washington, DC on the importance of a universal education for all girls. Her writing has been featured by Baby Center, Huffington Post, ONE.org, the UN Foundation’s Shot@Life, and The Gates Foundation’s “Impatient Optimists.” She is currently a candidate in Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs in the Executive Masters of Public Affairs program, where she hopes to further her study of global policies affecting women and girls.
Jennifer can be found on Twitter @JenniferBurden.
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by Jennifer Burden | May 28, 2013 | Shot@Life, Social Good, Uganda, World Voice
Jennifer Burden traveled by invitation of the UN Foundation’s Shot@Life campaign to Uganda to observe UNICEF’s Family and Child Health Days, where children are provided life-saving vaccinations. This post reflects on Day 3 of her adventure in October. She has previously reported on day 1 about UNICEF offices in Kampala, Uganda and day 2 of her trip at a UNICEF Family Health Day in Mumbende, Uganda.
Riverboat Safari
On Day 3 of our Ugandan adventure we took a detour. We were scheduled to meet with the health staff who were going to be working at the Family Health Days that we were visiting on Sunday, but they were still busy preparing for Sunday. So, we found ourselves with unexpected free time. What better thing to do in Africa when your plans fall through than to visit one of Uganda’s national parks?
Queen Elizabeth National Park in Uganda. Jennifer Burden of World Moms Blog with Jenny Eckton of the blog, Formerly Phread while in Uganda in October 2012 with Shot@Life.
Saturday’s adventure led us to Queen Elizabeth National Park, where we went on a river safari cruise on Lake Edward. We saw a multitude of hippos and buffalo, as well as, elephants, crocodiles, monkeys and beautiful birds. We hopped a riverboat and spent the entire time out on the water. I have never seen so many hippos in my life. Apparently, some had been brought to the park in the 1960s, and they’ve been expanding every since! One moment the waters would appear empty, but the next many hippo heads popping up out of the water! Babies followed their moms. They swam around together in groups. Absolutely incredible!
Culture & Signs of Extreme Poverty
The excursion was a fantastic opportunity for our delegation to get a feel of the country’s natural beauty and a great team building exercise. We were bonded going into the next Family Health Day. However, driving through the extreme poverty on the long bus ride through the country really put into perspective how much UNICEF’s efforts were needed.
We saw homes made of only big sticks and mud with reeds or tin for roofs. Although they are great “green” homes for the country’s beautiful African sun drenched days, they are unsuitable when temperatures become very cold at night and there is no running water or electricity.
Ugandan house made of mud and sticks.
Also, children were seen walking long distances in school uniforms, many alone. Women, men and children carried large yellow containers to collect water in and walked for miles home. An image that will never cease to amaze me — the site of an African woman balancing her load on her head and walking on the roadside barefoot.
Woman in Uganda walking on side of road in western Uganda.
Unfinished homes and store fronts were quite common. We were told that owners would save up for bricks and then add gradually to the structure over many years. It was not uncommon to see unfinished storefronts in use or piles of bricks that had been delivered to unfinished residences. Bricks were made of heated, dried mud.
Here is an example of a typical storefront. This one is a bicycle shop and a clothing store. Often times, the storefronts were painted by companies seeking to advertise mobile phones and other products.
Common roadside storefront in Uganda.
We were truly humbled by our trip out to western Uganda. The further we drove away from Kampala, the more common it was to see mud huts. And storefronts were everywhere, often with mothers manning them and children playing outside. Day 3 was a truly memorable day. We captured photos that changed us and that will stay in our advocacy hearts forever. This day was good for our delegation to get to know each other better and prepare for the next round of Family Health Days on Day 4.
This is an original post to World Moms Blog by founder, Jennifer Burden of New Jersey, USA.
Photo credits to the author.
Jennifer Burden is the Founder and CEO of World Moms Network, an award winning website on global motherhood, culture, human rights and social good. World Moms Network writes from over 30 countries, has over 70 contributors and was listed by Forbes as one of the “Best 100 Websites for Women”, named a “must read” by The New York Times, and was recommended by The Times of India.
She was also invited to Uganda to view UNICEF’s family health programs with Shot@Life and was previously named a “Global Influencer Fellow” and “Social Media Fellow” by the UN Foundation. Jennifer was invited to the White House twice, including as a nominated "Changemaker" for the State of the World Women Summit. She also participated in the One Campaign’s first AYA Summit on the topic of women and girl empowerment and organized and spoke on an international panel at the World Bank in Washington, DC on the importance of a universal education for all girls. Her writing has been featured by Baby Center, Huffington Post, ONE.org, the UN Foundation’s Shot@Life, and The Gates Foundation’s “Impatient Optimists.” She is currently a candidate in Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs in the Executive Masters of Public Affairs program, where she hopes to further her study of global policies affecting women and girls.
Jennifer can be found on Twitter @JenniferBurden.
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