Women Hold up Half the Sky – Chinese Proverb

Hi! How’s it going?

Two things to talk about this week.

Firstly it’s National Kindness Week (who knew!?) so I’m going to take some time to be a little bit nicer.

“Kindness is the language that the deaf can hear and the blind can see”

— Mark Twain

Secondly, I have been so inspired by the story of Malala – the 15 year old girl who got shot in the head for campaigning for the right for girls’ education in Pakistan that I have joined Plan UK ‘because I am a girl’ fund which goes to help girl’s claim their right to education.

I’m not preaching and I don’t care what anyone does with their money…but here’s why it’s important and what got me thinking – if you are reading this it means you are fortunate enough to be literate… and be wealthy enough to have a computer… and if you’re connected to the internet it means you’re part of only 30% of the global population which has this luxury.

I also realised how much I have stopped paying attention to global issues whilst being so focused on building happiness in my own life… not that I think that there’s anything wrong with that… just that it’s good to have your eyes open and reading about Malala not only made me appreciate just how fortunate I am having simply had the luck to be born where and who I am –

and I also wonder if I could be as brave if I were facing the same terror and discrimination. I think it’d be great if she won the Nobel Peace Prize (you can sign the petition via the link at the bottom of this post if you like)

Here are the statistics about girls’ education:

Globally, 10 million more girls are out of school than boys.*
41 million girls worldwide are still denied a primary education.*

Those numbers are hard to get your head around, but if you break it down it comes down to one in three girls not being given access to education through poverty, discrimination or conflict.

It is well founded that education ends generational cycles of poverty. A quality basic education equips people with the knowledge and skills they need to adopt healthy lifestyles.

Educated girls are less likely to marry and to have children whilst still a child and when they do have children they are more likely to have smaller and healthier families and to ensure that their children have an education.

Everyone deserves the right to fulfill their potential and for a fiver (which is less than I spend on coffee every week) I feel that I am making a small difference to this inequality.

And by writing this post – it’s my way of sharing my awareness…

“This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness.” — Dalai Lama

So there you go…if I’m saying anything this weeks it’s simply to find a cause and spead some kindness.

Then tell me about it!

Next week something less deep and meaningful I promise.

Peace

To sign the petition for Malala Yousafzai to be nominated for the Nobel Peace prize click here

To join Plan UK ‘ because I am a girl’ campaign click here

For the World Kindness Movement click here

*The Millennium Development Goals report 2007, New York: 2007, p11)

*UNESCO, Education for all: Global monitoring report 2008, Oxford University Press, Oxford: 2007, p184.)