It is 6:00a.m in the morning and my alarm goes off. I need to wake up and go to work. I am only eighteen years old and I already have a job! It feels really good to have my own desk, a computer, work to do and responsibilities to handle. I am an intern at Akili Dada and I work at Hazina towers in Nairobi’s Central Business District. Interning at Akili Dada has been a great learning experience for me and a really inspiring one. I have been a mentor to high school girls, something I have never done before. I have always been the mentee and not the mentor. I have been able to interact with great women from a wide variety of professions (Akili Dada mentors); this has really inspired me to dream big since I can be who I want to be. The highlight of my internship has been the mentoring visits. Together with other Akili Dada staff, mentors and alumnae, I visited the Akili Dada girls in their various schools and discussed the various Akili Dada values – sisterhood, leadership, excellence, transformation, and integrity. It was interesting to see the picture collages that everyone came up with representing the Akili Dada values. The lessons I learnt were numerous and I cannot forget them.

Akili Dada has really molded and transformed me to who I am today. Ever since I became a ‘dada’ my life has changed a lot. They took good care of me as if they were my blood sisters. They paid my school fees, provided shopping [for personal hygiene products] since I was in a boarding school, and also mentored me. I was always visited by a great woman with numerous achievements, at least once every term. I never felt left out when my parents couldn’t make it for visiting days because I knew my mentor would visit me later in the term. She listened to my dreams, my aspirations, and my visions and always provided guidance.

I did really well in my final secondary school exams; I got a grade ‘A’ of eighty three points. That was when Akili Dada offered me an opportunity to do an internship at the office. Since I live in Eldoret, which is about three hundred kilometers from Nairobi where Akili Dada offices are located, they found a hostel for me where I am currently living. They also introduced me to another organization called Zawadi Africa Education Fund which helps African girls from poor families to get admissions to colleges in the United States. I am currently applying to several colleges including Harvard, Tufts University, University of Rochester and Whitman College. I have already taken my SAT 1 exams and I hope to perform well in them. I have also been called to Moi University, which is a public campus here in Kenya, to study Medicine. I will be going to school later this year but I’ll still be waiting to see if any of the colleges I applied to in the US will accept me.

I am always grateful for what Akili Dada has done for me in my life and words cannot express how thankful I am. They saw a great lady in this fifteen year old girl and decided to nurture and help me exploit my full potential. That was back then when I was in my second year in high school. Their belief in me really encouraged me and made me believe in myself too. They brought back faith in my life when I had given up hope of ever becoming an influential person in society. I dream day and night of how I am going to transform my community, society and country at large. I want to make a difference and Akili Dada has empowered me to do just that. I get so many different ideas with each passing day of how I can transform my society and make it a better place. I would like to become a doctor when I grow up and help those in my community who cannot help themselves. I would like to help those who are sick in my community and cannot afford treatment which is quite expensive. I was inspired to join this profession by several Akili Dada mentors including Miss Karianjahi who is a doctor at Gertrude’s hospital. I believe that I can make a difference and I am determined to do so.

Please bookmark this link and use it for all your Amazon shopping.  Spread the word and share it with your friends.  Happy Holiday Shopping!

*For more information about our partnership with Amazon.com please click here.

Project founder Elena Durón Miranda of PETISOS in Bariloche, Argentina was featured earlier this year on CNN Heroes. The Top 10 Heroes of 2011 were announced last night, and Elena is among them! We are so proud of her and the work she does for children and families in her community.

Now it’s up to you to help her get the recognition she deserves! You can vote 10 times per day per email address until December 7, 2011.

Click HERE to vote for Elena, and don’t forget to check your email afterwards to verify your address. We need everyone to vote as much as possible – make the voting page your home page online so you remember to vote every time you open the internet, and share the link with friends on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, billboards, skywriting… you get the idea!

Wishing you could meet Elena in person to learn more about her remarkable project? She will be the featured guest speaker at our annual Luncheon Event this year on November 18th. For more information and to reserve your spot, write to rsvp@owcf.org!

For more information about PETISOS and other One World Projects, check out our new and improved website!

Finally, none of this incredible work would be possible without support from generous people around the world. Help Elena continue to serve the children of Bariloche by making a congratulatory donation to PETISOS!

On International Literacy Day each year, UNESCO reminds the international community of the status of literacy and adult learning globally… literacy remains an elusive target: some 793 million adults lack minimum literacy skills which means that about one in six adults is still not literate; 67.4 million children are out-of-school and many more attend irregularly or drop out.

This year, the day is focused on the link between literacy and peace-building. It is impossible to overstate the importance of literacy and education in improving quality of life and access to opportunity in developing communities around the world. Fortunately, many community-based organizations are working tirelessly to provide children with the education and reading skills they need to be successful.

One World Children’s Fund partners with several  organizations whose primary purpose is to educate and mentor under-served children and youth. Click the links to find out more about People First Educational Trust, Nari Jagran Manch, Prajna Vihar School and Nirvanavan in India; Mubarika Campus in Pakistan; Akili Dada, Kusoma and St. Vincent’s in Kenya; Bocas School in Panama and PETISOS in Argentina.

Thanks to the efforts of these and other projects, more children will have access to a brighter future and an end to the cycle of poverty. Celebrate this International Literacy Day by helping to make a difference in the lives of children!

For information from UNESCO about global literacy and the efforts to make universal education a reality, read more here.

Here at Girls to Women, we’re convinced that the low-income Latina, African-American, and Asian/Pacific Islander elementary- and middle-school girls whom we serve benefit immensely from culturally-similar role models.  While other mentors have certainly inspired them and contributed to improved outcomes, we literally see the extra spark in the eyes of the girls and their parents when they encounter the effective, motivated young women from our community whom we’ve recruited to serve as academic tutors.

While they’ve helped the younger girls with their homework assignments, these tutor-mentors have also sent empowering messages about culture, identity, and personal potential.

About a year after our inception in early 2007, we began recruiting young women from the noted local Eastside College Preparatory School to tutor our participants.  The model worked well, and we began recruiting a pool of up to 18 Eastside students each semester to help with the academic support effort.

Noting that all secondary-school students in California must complete community service hours, we started making inquiries and, beginning with the Fall Semester 2010, selected a larger group of young women not just from Eastside, but from all of the several local high schools serving East Palo Alto.  The result was as good as we could have wished for — and it meant that we could meet our standard of “one-on-one academic support for every girl who needs it” entirely from within our community.

Twenty-nine high-achieving young women contributed over 1,200 hours of one-on-one academic tutoring, program activity supervision, and general mentoring and leadership development for the younger girls each semester during School Year 2010-2011.  We’re planning to continue this practice as the start of School Year 2011-2012 rapidly approaches.  If any readers want to know more about how we put this fruitful collaboration together, drop us an email at info@girlstowomen.org or call us at 650-326-6431.

Here are some photos of the girls and young women learning and having fun together:

Girls performing the Wizard of Oz: Puneet Dhillon and Jasmin Lopez (Back Row); Brianna Luna, Sara Noriega, Arylyne Nava and Heilala Raass (Front Row)

A tutor-mentor helps the girls out with a three-legged race: (from left to right) Puneet Dhillon, Viviana Luna, Sara Noriega, Andrea Miller, Alicia Ponce (high-school tutor-mentor), Arlyne Nava and Ana Maria Valencia.

To donate to Girls to Women, please click below:

Prolonged drought — dubbed the worst in 60 years — coupled with soaring global food prices and deteriorating livestock prices has caused a severe food crisis in East Africa (namely in Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia). The crisis is characterized as the worst the world has seen since the Great Chinese Famine of the late 1950s. In Kenya, food shortages have reached critical levels and the Kenyan government has declared a national emergency.

Jean is as you may know, has been involved with One World since 2006, as a Project Champion for Familia HOPE Orphanage in Timor-Leste (formerly East Timor). The HOPE Orphanage is the home of 32 children. It is important to note there’s no adoption in Timor-Leste, and the children live together as a family, with the older ones looking after the younger ones, and all helping out with chores. The orphanage, depends on donations to operate and provides for all the children’s needs including food, shelter, education, health care and love.

This is what motivates Jean to train and run for Team One World. She will be running the half marathon in San Francisco this Saturday. Her goals is to raise at least $500 by July 30th and is almost there !

I asked Jean what advice she has for future runners who would like to join Team One World and how they should train. She said, start gradually, jogging with friends for fun. It is Important to run regularly, stretch and eat a proper diet. For those interested in long distance running and its important to follow training guidelines and training schedules with the proper distances.

Jean would like to emphasize, One World has a unique operating model: 100% of your donation will go directly to the HOPE Orphanage.

If you would like to make a tax-deductible donation to “Jean’s Run for HOPE Orphanage” you can do so online at: http://www.active.com/donate/teamoneworldsf/jeanolson. 
Thank you for your dedication Jean, good luck on Saturday!

“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better.  It’s not.”  ~Dr. Seuss

We couldn’t have said it better because at One World, we believe ‘Change Happens Among Motivated People‘ (CHAMP). There are so many people within our community who donate their time and effort and we want to honor these exemplary individuals for all their hard work in helping us reach children around the world.  

Each month we accept nominations for those who have gone above and beyond in volunteering with us and this month, we are so honored to have you meet our June ‘CHAMP’, Duke Huston.  Congratulations Duke and thank you from everyone at One World!

The Nomination:

“Never seen but always there, Duke is the dedicated force behind One World’s branding and communication such as our newsletter, invitations and soon, our new website.” 

From Duke:

I’m touched, and a bit dizzy to be included among One World’s CHAMPs — who have done so much more with their lives for your cause.  Thanks for the award, everyone.  I’m truly honored.