Welcome to our second newsletter.
Six months into the journey of ‘a Girl & her world, we are now supporting a number of girls and their families. We have been able to make some great connections with people in the Pacific who are committed to the cause of educating girls and keeping them at school.
Thank you to our faithful supporters …we are humbled by your generosity either with time, skills and resources…
Here is an update on where your generosity is helping us go
Since our first newsletter back in February Fiji has been devastated by flood. This image taken just a few weeks ago, shows the devastation that has claimed lives named the worst in years. If you’ve been to Nadi, this is Nadi town and surrounds under water! Our team missed this by 2 days!
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Trip update
A Girl&Her World team members Jane, Joanna and Kym as well junior members Jess, Maddy and Ellie visited Fiji in March. We were hosted by Urmila and travelled near and far to meet the girls we support and saw how their families work hard to make ends meet. We loved seeing the determination of each girl to work towards her dreams despite the odds stacked against her.
We saw how income-generating projects can make an enormous difference to the quality of life for families and restore dignity to those wanting to work but simply lacking the opportunity.
Read our most recent blog about one Mum whose life is about to become a whole lot more efficient thanks to your generosity.
We also visited the schools where the girls we support are working hard and met their teachers and principals. Lots more stories to come on the realities and challenges of overcoming poverty and getting girls to come to school and stay at school…
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Projects
As a result of everything we saw while we were in Fiji combined with the recent floods, we have a number of needs and projects to fundraise for…we need your help !
- Our amazing In Country Co-ordinator Urmila, is currently working 1 day a week for ‘A Girl & her world’ If you are interested in making a difference on the ground and can commit to AU$85 per month, we could love to hear from you. Please click on the ‘Give’ section of our website. Read more about Urmilla here…
- While visiting our lovely girls we met Deepika and her Mum who is a tailor. Mum is working off a pedal powered relic (pictured) as they have no electricity. Her machine has broken down and limited her ability to earn money. We would like to purchase a new machine for her which will cost around AU$420. An electric machine would obviously be a lot cheaper and lighter but given her remote location and need for a pedal machine, this was the cheapest we could find. We are planning to send some screen printed canvas fabric over and employ her to make some special A Girl & her world bags, and she will also make all our sponsored girls’ uniforms.
- Urmila has assessed 3 more girls this last week who need support to go to school for AU$25/month
- We are looking for 2 more income-generating sponsors to provide honey bee boxes for parents AU$200 each.
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Where does your money go?
Just so you know…100% of the money you donate to support girls education goes to their education. 100% of the money you donate to income generating projects goes to income generating projects. Other running costs are largely covered probono (thank you!) or by people donating specifically to cover these costs.
If you want to know more, please just ask…we are happy to answer.
A Girl &Her…Cause
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We are very excited to introduce some of our first Girl Ambassadors! Jessyn Cross (middle) and Ellie Hawkins (right) are in the process of presenting to their schools’ SRC and teachers about their experience of our trip and generating support through mufti day gold coin donations and other school fundraising activities. Also read about Franzika Chmiel (pictured below), our Girl Ambassador who is about to spend 2 weeks in Fiji volunteering with us.
All of our Girl Ambassadors will invite their friends to connect with us on Facebook and Twitter and run competitions to raise awareness. Pure Fiji products and Fiji rugby jerseys are up for grabs!
If you or someone you know would like to become a Girl Ambassador, drop us a line…
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Coming up….
Our first Girl Ambassador will be heading to RakiRaki in June to stay with the wonderful Urmila for 2 weeks. Franziska Chmiel is in year 11 and is excited about the opportunity to experience life in a developing country and volunteer with us.
Franziska will be spending time in each of the high schools holding focus groups with the girls and dreaming up some girl based solutions for some of the barriers to education that currently exist.
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We will update you with a newsletter every 3 months, however we are always happy to talk with you about anything else you’d like to know…email us!
