The UN General Assembly adopted Resolution 66/170 in 2011 and declared October 11 as the International Day of the Girl to recognize girls’ rights and the unique challenges girls face throughout the world.

The event will feature the screening of the award winning documentary, Graceland Girls, produced and directed by Jordan Salvatoriello.

This evening is designed to raise awareness of these incredible challenges, recognize the importance of empowering communities to educate young girls, and celebrate the differences made by organizations committed to investing in the future of educating women.

Acacia in Kenya will also be featuring extraordinary musical and dance performances by Elena Barker, Paige Zacharkis, Rhythmic Dreams and others.

Diane Pueschel, Global Programs Manager & CLC Program Director shared some photos she received of the screening.  It is amazing to see the work in action!  Diane wrote in an e-mail that the films were “very well received and the discussion following was very lively and worthwhile.”

This is the first of a series of screenings at refugee camps in Dadaab, including a screening in Dagahaley and Ifo camps in the coming weeks.  Diane writes that as an official partner of UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, the Open Learning Exchange is working to expand their program into Somalia as well with the help of community leaders on the ground there.

Photo by Maria Amasenti

“The best escalator out of poverty is education, whether in Boston or Bangladesh,” New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof told an auditorium full of students and social entrepreneurs at Education:Empowering Girls One Book at a Time at Northeastern University Wednesday evening.

The event featured Kristof and his wife Sheryl WuDunn, a Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist and co-author of their book, Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide. The inspiration for the book came following their time as Timescorrespondents in China where they learned of the nation’s female infanticide and gender based abortions and with the harsh realization that oppression against women and girls was in fact a global epidemic. WuDunn says there are between 60 and 100 million missing females in the world today. Women and girls who are educated tend to marry later in life, have fewer children, learn how to better care for those children and are more likely to reinvest in their own family.

They were joined by ex-Microsoft exec., John Wood, now Founder and Board Co-Chair of Room to Read, and author of Creating Room to Read: A Story of Hope in the Battle for Global Literacy.

“It’s the biggest no-brainer solution,” said Wood. “It frustrates the hell out of me that more isn’t being done about it.” In fact, educating women and girls is the fastest and most effective way to fight global poverty, yet the movement is an incredibly slow one.

The group challenged the School of Social Enterprise students to take action, or “get stuff done,” as Wood likes to say. “As children we use action figures, not talking figures,” Wood adds. And it’s all about action. Along with educating girls, other topics of discussion included economic empowerment, gender-based violence, and maternal healthcare. Their collective advice to these current and future social entrepreneurs:

• Don’t be afraid to sell: Use some of your business savvy to galvanize a social change movement.
• Evidence and evaluation is hugely important: Collect data, measure impact.
• Support local change-makers; use a community-based model. (“We want a hand-off, not a hand-out,” said Wood.)
• Be transparent: From program management to business practices and finance, show it all.
• Travel: Step out of your comfort zone and see the need and the impact for yourself – it will inspire you!

As the old Chinese proverb says, “Women hold up half the sky,” and as great as the injustices against women around the world, even greater is their potential to end global poverty with our support. You cannot stop progress. It will happen, but how long it takes is up to us.

This year’s International Women’s Day theme is “Inspiring Change,” celebrating the social, political and economic achievements of women while focusing world attention on areas requiring further action; advocating for women’s advancement everywhere in every way.

Women’s Forum will be screening my film GRACELAND GIRLS followed by a panel discussion on the power of educating women and girls to eradicate poverty.

Panel will include:
Jordan Salvatoriello, M.F.A. – Director of GRACELAND GIRLS
Dr. Richard Rowe - Chairman/CEO of the Open Learning Exchange
Monte Allen - Senior Director, CARE USA

When & Where
MCLE - 10 Winter Place
Boston, MA 02108
From 5:30 pm to 8 pm 

TO PURCHASE TICKETS CLICK HERE ($15 per) 

GRACELAND GIRLS provides an intimate look at how the high school students at Graceland Girls School in Kenya have defied the odds, proving that adolescent girls are the cornerstone for development. The girls express the beauty and pressures of empowered Kenyan girlhood and share their personal struggles to find hope for a better future.

Organizations such as the Open Learning Exchange, a social benefit organization (501c3) headquartered in Cambridge, MA are committed to ensuring free access to quality basic learning for all.  This is particularly relevant for refugees and those displaced or forced to flee their homeland due to threat of violence or lack of resources.

In August 2013, the Open Learning Exchange began work towards establishing three Community Learning Centres, which will provide open learning opportunities to refugee populations, in particular children and youth, living in three UNHCR camps in Dadaab, Kenya.

Included in the educational materials in Dadaab is my documentary short, Graceland Girls, which will be screened this spring at all three Centres, along with other educational films.  As Somalis in the Kenyan school system, the story of how educating girls in Kenya can help break the cycle of poverty may hit close to home.  It is my hope that the film will stimulate a revealing discussion rooted in the culture, politics and economy of their host country and their Somali homeland.

Open educational resources can be the catalyst for systematic and institutional changes in the educational system on the ground, and provide the basic education needed to empower youth to create change and end poverty for themselves and for future generations.

*Photo courtesy of Open Learning Exchange

I asked Alicia if she could host a discussion following the film and then record some of her fellow students’ answers to share them with me.  What she shared gives me hope that young people are open to cultural messages, they do care about these issues and want to be a part of the solution. Check it out:

Q: How did the film make you feel?
A: At first I felt really bad, and embarrassed because I take my schooling for granted, when they have to work so hard. And I complain about school when they have so much more to complain about, but they don’t. They’re thankful. It makes me think I should be just as thankful, if not more. And the end of the movie was very uplifting, like, I don’t have to be ashamed that I have so much more, because I can help them get more.

Q: What obstacles are these girls facing?
A:
-Money
-Culture
-Societal Norms

Q: What are some of the ways you feel education can help break the cycle of poverty?
A: To see the big picture of education as the teachers at Graceland did. To understand that knowledge is power and education is the key to obtaining that power – the power to make a difference.

Q: What are some similarities you see between the Graceland Girls School and your high school? What differences do you see?
A: Similarities: VERY determined to get into a good university, and lots of pressure to get into a good university. Also we are both worried about money for college.

Differences: Difference in the reason for. For us, we live in a rich community where going to community college is shameful and looked down upon, but if that’s where we go, it’s not the end of the road (although it feels like it). But for the Graceland Girls, if they don’t get in, it literally IS the end of the road.

One difference that stood out to me the most, was what the girl said when she saw her picture on the board. She said “I look beautiful.” That really stuck out to me the most, because if northern Virginia girls saw a picture of them on a big screen, they would criticize themselves and so how ‘fat’ or ‘ugly’ they looked. We may have better schooling, but the Graceland Girls sure do have more self confidence. Maybe it’s because they know they were sent to school because their parents believe in them, and they know that they can have a future, they are worth it.

Q: What are some things we can do in the U.S. to empower women and girls here and around the world?
A: Doing things [that we already are] like having clubs and movies to educate people on girls educations (hehe). But we also need to get people to care, and understand that this isn’t some charity that you give a few dollars to and forget about, this is actually a big problem in the world that needs to be solved.

Some of my favorite responses were:

“We take our education for granted, but we are actually very lucky to go to school.”

When I asked the crowd how the statement “At the age of 12 a girl is supposed to marry” made them feel, a young girl answered: “Gross.”  When I asked her how old she is, she answered “12.”

Hearing their reactions and their excitement to get involved was inspiring and with the recent requests I have received for screenings at middle and high schools, I have realized I need to move forward with developing a film discussion guide, tips for creating empowerment groups like Girls Learn International and perhaps a fundraising toolkit to help maximize awareness of the issues presented in the film, and to give viewers an easy way to act.  More to come!

25th Paris International Lesbian & Feminist Film Festival will feature Graceland Girls on Friday, November 1(vendredi 1er novembre) at 17h00 – Petite Salle - Séance Kenya, générations féministes, Space EFCB, 23/25 rue Emile Zola – Montreuil 93100, Métro Robespierre.

Dans un lycée pour filles au Kenya, pays où la majorité des filles n’ont pas accès à l’éducation et sont victimes d’inégalité sociale et économique, une série de portraits intimistes et pleins d’espoir.

If you are in Paris, stop by si vous plait!

Filmmakers Collaborative‘s BOSTON INTERNATIONAL KIDS FILM FESTIVAL will feature Graceland Girls on Saturday, November 2, 12:30 – 1:30 p.m. at the Somerville Theatre, 55 Davis Square, Somerville, MA 02144.

Come by and say hello as I’ll be attending the screening and will participate in a post film discussion about the importance of educating girls to break the cycle of poverty.

In addition, Graceland Girls will screening alongside the short film “The Making of Malala,” the story of Malala Yousafzai’s the improbable international teen spokeswoman for girls’ education.

This worldwide day of ceasefire and non violence can have a significant positive impact in the Philadelphia region through the active involvement of individuals, groups, organizations and neighborhoods.

GLOBAL AWARENESS FILMS – FILMS AT THE FISH:

SEPTEMBER 6 – OCTOBER 4, 2013: Every Wednesday – Saturday at 8 p.m. & Sundays at 3 p.m., “FILMS AT THE FISH,” the Walking Fish Theatre, 2509 Frankford Avenue, Philadelphia, PA.  For more information, CLICK HERE.

The mission of the Awareness Film Festival to gain a clearer understanding of our world’s pressing issues: Ecological, Political, Health/Well Being and the Spirit. The festival showcases both Documentary and Narrative Features, as well as Short Films, Music Videos and Public Service Announcements. We have filmmaker Q&A’s, filmmaker Panels, as well as conscious art and music.

The Awareness Film Festival was formed by Heal One World, a non-profit charity. This Festival is also a fundraiser for Heal One World. Any net profits from this event will go completely to charity, including partner organizations.  For more information, visit: www.awarenessfestival.org.

For a complete schedule or to purchase tickets, visit: http://awareness.festivalgenius.com/2013/schedule/week.