Help a Girl Get an Education

Over the Summer, I met an amazing 18 year old girl from Pakistan at a girls' leadership program. She is all alone in the U.S.A. and seeking asylum here. She has left her family and her culture behind due to the very difficult issues of being a female and fulfilling her educational goals. She has a small group of supporters made up of girls from the leadership program and several women who have gotten involved from across the country. Education is very important to our friend; (we will call her Malala 2, as her name can not be released during this pre-asylum hearing time) and she has amazing determination and spirit. Despite the obstacles, all she wants is a college education so that she can help women who have similar stories, all over the world. She is one of the bravest people I have ever met. She is currently living in a shelter and taking ESL and GED classes. She is extremely intelligent and motivated and as she says, "her mind is her gift." Once she has been granted asylum she will be eligible for a small stipend and be able to work part time. However, she cannot achieve her goals without help now. Some of the girls from the program and I contacted Girl Rising, an organization we were introduced to this Summer and got permission from them to share their film, Girl Rising, as a fund raiser to help "Malala 2". Girl Rising is a wonderful film (and movement) about girls around the world struggling to get an education. We will be sending all proceeds from the showing of this film to our friend. The first film presentations for our fund raiser will be on Saturday, January 4th, 2014 at 5pm and Sunday, January 5th, 2014 at 1pm at the First Unitarian Society of Westchester, 25 Old Jackson Road, Hastings-on-Hudson, NY. There will be other showings of this film to help "Malala 2" around the country in the near future. You can help by coming to see the film and making a donation there and/or donating here.






(Please also see another and connected "gofundme" site; http://www.gofundme.com/5c0pgc which is also collecting funds for "Malala 2").