Last week I had lunch with my friend Megg. Even though we live near each other our work schedules tend to keep us apart, so we dove into our time together, gossiping and laughing as friends tend to do. As we walked back towards the train station we noticed a gaggle of teenage girls ahead of us. They were all dressed similarly — big hair, short skirts, you know the look — and while rolling my eyes I quipped that it must be a nightmare being a teenager these days. That it was bad enough waiting for the home phone to ring back in the 80s, so what must it be like now, when there’s social media measuring your popularity? What if you you have no Facebook friends? What if someone tweets something mean about you? What if embarrasing photos of you end up on the internet? It must be horrible!
Megg and I agreed that growing up in the 80s might have been easier.
But those teenage girls with their over-applied make up and blinged-out smart phones don’t know any different. It’s all just part of the world they’ve grown up in.
There are other girls in the world growing up with a very different set of problems.
Watch this video:
From the Girl Effect donation page: “There are 600 million adolescent girls living in poverty in the developing world. By giving one of these girls a chance, you start the girl effect. When girls have safe places to meet, education, legal protection, health care, and access to training and job skills, they can thrive. And if they thrive, everyone around them thrives, too.”
I want all girls to thrive. I want all people to thive. And in my heart of hearts I know it starts with the mothers, daughters, sisters and aunties. So while I’m doing what I can over here in my corner of the privileged Western world, I’m sending money to those who can directly help in the developing world.
Can you help too?
— Bloggers are circling this week to promote the Girl Effect, so add your voice and share here…
— Explore the Girl Effect site and get more informed
— Donate directly to the Girl Effect
— Donate to specific life-changing programs here
Let’s make a difference xox
Thank you for sharing. And, as a teenager these days: yes–I know the girls you are talking about. I see them every day at school. But I also see the girls that study relentlessly and talk about feminism and can run cross country. Girls who want to change things and who don’t have facebook and who know they have a lot of power. And thanks for sharing this because now there is a direct way for us to pour our power and our freedom and our privileges into a way to help people.
thanks for your comment, Libby – it makes my heart really happy to know you — and teens like you — are out there! yay! x
Thanks for sharing that link. I’m donating right away. E.x
It makes me so happy to see so many Girl Effect blog posts in my feed reader! It so important to get the word out and start taking action. Thanks for sharing!
I’m glad Libby already made the comment about the different kinds of teenage girls, as a teenager I don’t identify with that image, of course I always assume people are just generalising when they group youth together. :)
The video is amazing and the cause sounds brilliant.