Posted by Brittany R

Program Host	Chapter
Host Region and Chapter	Connecticut Valley Sabbaba BBYO
Program Type	Sisterhood Social Action Women's Issues
Time Required	Less then 2 hours
Target Population(s)	Girls (BBG) Members Freshmen Sophomores Juniors Seniors 8th Graders
Folds Targeted	Community Service Social Action
People Participating	10-30

Program Summary:

An eye opening program that involves the Girl Effect, an inspiring video that was shown at IC '09

Full Description:

The Girl Effect

Supplies: Computer, paper, pens

Related Quote:  “I am one though only one there’s so much I can do” –The B’nai B’rith Girls

Related Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIvmE4_KMNw

Related Website:  http://www.girleffect.org

Related Song: “I am Woman” by Helen Reddy

Start with playing some tribal music in the background (any form of African, Middle Eastern, Indian, etc.) and have the girls enter the room in the dark (or do this outside). Tell the girls to close their eyes, wait a moment, and then the leader will start speaking.

Leader A: “Imagine a girl in poverty. No, Really. Imagine her. You are that girl living in an impoverished town. There isn’t clean water, there isn’t electricity, you are lucky enough to have a bed in your two room house. A bed that your family must share, because you can only have one.”

Leader B: “I am your mother. We are struggling to get food, your younger brothers are starving and will soon have to drop out of school to get a job and help us pay for things. You, however, are my daughter and won’t be able to get a good job so you will have to help our family in another way. We’ve found a lovely man who wants to marry you and he will give us a large dowry. He is 49 and you will be his third wife, but if you marry him it will help our family so much. I expect you to be courteous to him for this is our decision- not yours and you would be disrespecting your family if you refuse. And that boy, who I see you with all the time, you are forbidden to talk to him. He is as poor as us, and you will be of no help to the family if you marry him.”

Leader A: “Bound to marry a man three times your age and forget the boy you love, but you have no choice. It’s time to end your schooling and become a mother. These are the simple facts of life, but what if there was a solution? Did you know that one of every six people in the world is an adolescent girl living in poverty. That’s 600 million people – twice the population of the United States. Each one could change our world for the better, if given the chance.”

Have the girls open their eyes now and play the Girl Effect Video for them

Leader B: “Imagine being a 15-year-old girl wanting an education but needing a means to pay for it – eventually finding a solution in a business venture that 40 year-old men typically pursued. Then imagine staging a hunger strike to avoid childhood marriage.
Not a typical scenario. But then again, Anita is not a typical girl.
Anita is from a small village in the Bihar state of India, where only one in six girls is literate. Household duties, childhood marriage and early motherhood often take precedence over education for many girls – but not for Anita.
She wanted to go to school, but her parents couldn’t afford the fees, so Anita tutored other students to pay for her education. Knowing that she would need more money for college, she enrolled in a government training class to become a beekeeper at the age of 15 – something 40 year-old men typically did.
From there, Anita started her own beekeeping operation, all while staying in school and tending to her household duties. She used the money from her bee business to pay for her and her brother’s education and provide for their family.
Anita’s drive didn’t stop there though. When her parents decided it was time for her to marry – and discontinue schooling – Anita staged a hunger strike in protest. And her antics worked. Her parents eventually agreed to delay marriage and let her stay in school if she ate.
Today, Anita is in college and continues to run a successful beekeeping business. And she remains unmarried.”

Leader A: “The oldest of three children, Juthika and her family live in a small village in Bangladesh. Her father was unable to work, and her mother struggled to make ends meet. So Juthika took matters into her own hands.
At the age of 13, Juthika joined the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee’s (BRAC) ELA program (brac.net). Through BRAC, she learned how to grow vegetables and raise livestock. She also learned about the dangers of childhood marriage and pregnancy as well as the strain dowries put on families.
Today, Juthika helps her mother support their family. She raises ducks, maintains a vegetable garden, tutors schoolboys, and embroiders handkerchiefs. She is continuing her schooling and is paying for her siblings’ education as well. Juthika still attends BRAC ELA and is speaking out about dowries and childhood marriage.

These two teenagers are real people, their stories are true and they are the Girl Effect”

Leader B: “Anita and Juthika prove that the Girl Effect is possible but they are only two girls. Multiply that by 600 million girls in the developing world and you could change the course of history.”

Leader A: “We are teen girls, so let’s think. What gets in the way of girls going to school? Why aren’t girls in the developing world – or developed world – going to school?”

Have the girls list issues that they think might be holding back girls in other parts of the world. Keep a list (get ideas going: children, husband, family, sickness, a job, etc.)

Leader B: “Now look at all these different factors that might stop a girl from reaching her full potential, but we can help”

Leader A: “If we all work together we can help girls who live halfway across the world to have a better future, and that is the Girl Effect. Girls helping girls everywhere to make a difference”

Related Charities to Give to:
http://www.halftheskymovement.org/
http://www.globalgiving.org/projects/support-ethiopia-girls-education/
http://goingtoschool.com/store.html
http://www.globalgiving.org/girleffect.html

Submitter's Suggestions:

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