GRATITUDE – The Girl Effect
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by Aishy Vimal

I am 14 years old and this is my typical day. I wake up at 6am in my single bed with a comfy pillow and warm blanket. By 7am I’m out of the house with a full stomach and fresh school uniform. I’m in school by 8am. It usually takes forty-five minutes to get to school but I’m not complaining because I’m in a fully air-conditioned car with the radio tuned  on to my favourite morning show.

It’s 12.30pm – lunchtime! My friends and I run down to the cafeteria and buy some rice and chicken to eat. It’s 3pm and school is over and all of us go in our cars and head back home. I’m in dance class by 5pm, where I have been learning ballet, tap and modern dance since I was five. Then it’s back home for some homework, TV, Facebook of course, and bed.

But this is not a typical day for hundreds of adolescent girls in many areas of the world.

Here’s one story: She’s 14, and her life starts at 4am. She has to make four trips to collect just 2 litres of water, sometimes walking up to 6km. Now, that she’s finished getting water, she walks 4km to school. She drinks water to keep away the hunger after school and starts walking home in the searing heat. Back home, she makes more trips for water to wash the clothes, clean the house and then to help her mother in the small garden. if the crops don’t grow properly, they don’t eat. It’s as simple as that.

Now her mum is too tired to cook dinner as she is not well and hasn’t been well for a while now. She prepares dinner over an open fire – boiled rice and some beans. It takes a long time to cook the dinner as she has to keep the fire going as well. She’s falling asleep over the fire and is so hungry she finishes her food in no time at all. She goes to bed still hungry but there’s no food to look forward to till dinner tomorrow.

Two whole different stories but two similar people. The only thing that’s different is that one girl is living in poverty and the other one is what I think of as a normal life. I never knew all these things were happening to girls my age.  The fact that they don’t have food to eat makes me feel grateful for all that I have. This gratitude is what made me decide to do something about it. I decided to do something which would get people to know and understand what is happening to adolescent girls.

It all started when I was doing research for my geography class. We were learning about different charitable organizations and I found the Girl Effect website (www.girleffect.org). The video immediately got me hooked. Right after I watched the video I decided that I wanted to do something for the group. I was very attracted to the Girl Effect as it’s about girls my age and I just can’t imagine that someone just like me is living such a difficult life just because of the circumstances they are born into. Everyone should be given opportunities to live their best life.

Here are some facts about how things are now – one person in eight is a girl or young woman age 10–24. With the right assistance, with education, with skill training, health benefits, she can break the cycle of poverty and she deserves the chance.

Statistics show that when you help a girl, that many more lives will benefit: her brothers, sisters, parents, her village, her community and it goes on. Unfortunately when a girl turns 12, she is treated as an adult and has to work to help support the family, in families who have no other choice she is most often married off. One moment she is a child, and the next she is bearing a child while she is still a child herself.

• A girl with seven or more years of education will marry four years later and have 2.2 fewer children, the population’s HIV rate goes down and malnutrition decreases by 43%

• When 10 percent more girls go to secondary school, the country’s economy grows by 3 percent.

• When an educated girl earns income she reinvests 90 percent in her family, compared to 35 percent for a boy.

Yet 99.4% of international aid money, is not directed to her. This means less than two cents of every international development dollar is directed to her.

This is when I decided to do something to bring awareness – there are 600 million adolescent girls – can you imagine if they were all given a chance, if every girl was given a chance – WOW!

So I thought, let see what I can do – I can organize a flash mob. I talked to my mum and my sister; Apshy and we thought yes! A flash mob is when a group of people assemble suddenly in a public place to perform an unusual act or a choreographed dance for a brief time, then disperse, often for the purposes of entertainment or satire. I decided to take this a step further and use the flash mob to create awareness.

I also chose to do a flash mob as I’ve been dancing since I was five, I love anything to do with dance. I figured this would be fun and lots of people would want to take part in it because it would be easy as well. In addition, each time I talk about the flash mob, I talk about Girl Effect. I talk about girls who need help and so many people have now come to know what is happening and that we need to help these girls. I have talked to so many people, and I know these people have talked to more people and every time I speak on tv or in a press interview, more and more people have come to know about what the facts are and I truly believe that there will be a ripple effect. There will be people who can do much more than me who will do something bigger and I am glad that I started them thinking.

I think everyone just has to do what they can, from where they are and this will create an amazing ripple effect all over the world. I’m doing something because I believe everyone is the same and everyone should get a chance and opportunities. You should too.

Now you might be wondering what you can do to help?

Firstly, you can join me! Come dance with us! Show that you want to help these girls! Secondly talk about this. Tell your friends, family and neighbors about what’s happening to these girls. By just telling one person, the news spreads. And most probably 2 in 3 people will do something to help these girls.

Finally you can donate. Donate money to these girls. Help them, you can choose your project and help these girls be who they should be. If just one person donates at least $10, you can help one girl start a small business. Then she can expand her business and help her family and her entire community.

My site – www.facebook.com/girleffect.flashmob
My youtube channel – http://www.youtube.com/user/aishyvimal
Online fundraiser – www.globalgiving.org – Search for Aishy Vimal under fundraiser

Flash mob Dates – JOIN US OR SUPPORT US!
17^th April – 4pm – Pavillion Shopping Mall, (outside at the fountain area)
20^th April – 7.45 pm – 1Utama (Lower ground, New Wing)
23^rd April – 3pm – Bangsar Village 2 (concourse area)

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