Hey, this is Sara & Kirby from Plan USA. We haven’t made it in to the United Nations yet, but we are in New York City. We arrived around noon, after a bus from Rhode Island. It is very windy in New York City and very cold compared to the other countries that are here — like Cameroon, Sierra Leone and Indonesia. Girls from Canada are also in New York City, and delegates from Finland should arrive soon. Going over the schedule tonight, cued in on the importance of our participation here. We are going to speaking to members of the United Nations, people with important roles in deciding international policy and agendas. Even though we are still in the United States, I still feel incredibly far away from home, surrounded by girls that are from all over the world. I guess it still hasn’t hit me where we are and what voice we have, but I am anticipating such an tremendousness feeling walking into the UN, wearing Plan shirts and calling ourselves girl delegates for the world.
Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for more updates!
The earthquake in Haiti was over one year ago, and since then hasn't been free from further tragedy. Flooding, a cholera outbreak, and political unrest disrupted relief efforts and prevented Haitians from rebuilding their lives. While we can't fix all of the problems in Haiti in just a year, it is certain that the world has not forgotten about Haiti.
Throughout the country's struggles, students at Blake Middle School in Massachusetts raised awareness of conditions in Haiti and fundraised to support Plan programs operating there. To commemorate the one-year anniversary of the earthquake, nearly 750 students in sixth, seventh, and eighth grade joined on a Skype call with Haitian youth and Plan staff. Students gathered in their school auditorium to ask questions about the livelihood, education, and conditions of their peers in Haiti. Some even practiced their French, asking questions in Haiti's official language.
While we were hoping to connect with a youth group in Croix de Bouquets, difficulties in internet connection and electricity made it difficult to communicate back and forth. Instead, we connected with Maureen- a Communications Assistant working for Plan Haiti. Maureen was very kind and generous with her time, and answered all of the questions our youth had about life in Haiti.
Some of the more popular questions that Blake students asked were:
Blake: What do you do for fun? What sports do you play in Haiti?
Maureen: Soccer! Soccer is by far the most popular sport in Haiti. Other than that, youth like to play video games, hang out with friends, play games. Same as kids in the United States.
Blake: Do you feel like the world has moved on from the earthquake in Haiti? That people aren't paying as much attention anymore?
Maureen: We felt overwhelmed with support from the rest of the world. Everyone came, there are so many volunteers. There is so much being done here- a lot more to do, but we just really felt the support and care from the rest of the world. A lot of people are living in tents, which is not a good condition and doesn't protect from the rain and keep people safe. But I don't feel like people have forgotten about us, not at all.
Blake: What is your favorite food in America? What do you normally eat in Haiti?
Maureen: American food- probably a cheeseburger. [Maureen was born in Haiti, but spend the majority of her life living in the United States. She's no stranger to American food!] In Haiti we eat a lot of rice and beans, plantains.
Blake: What can we do to help?
Maureen: Support. Support is really the biggest thing. We just really appreciate knowing that people are still thinking of us and supporting us. Thank you so much.
As stated by Jim Emerson, the Country Director for Plan Haiti,
"Disasters have a way of uniting people across geographies and cultures, and often bring out the best in humankind. In the days following January 12, 2010, the whole world embraced Haiti with an outpouring of support... [Plan is working] with the people of Haiti to build a country that promises a better future for its children, one in which they can reach their full potential and where their rights and dignity are respected."
Click here to read Plan's Haiti Report 12 months after the disaster.
Last week, the Protecting Girls by Preventing Child Marriage Act failed in the House of Representatives. Given that the bill was supported by both Democrats and Republicans- and had passed unanimously in the Senate- the result was a disappointing surprise.
A 15-year old girl gets married in Pakistan.
Many from the poorest families are married
even younger.
If passed, the bill would have authorized the president to provide assistance to prevent child marriage in developing countries. It would have mandated that Obama's administration develop a multi-year strategy to prevent child marriage, and integrated child marriage prevention programs in current development work. Additionally, forced marriage would have been included in the State Department's annual evaluation of countries' human rights practices.
What happened?
Prior to the vote, Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen sent a memo to the Republican Party whip objecting to the cost of the bill. Instead, she introduced her own version of the bill which she indicated would cost only $1 million. However, the bill fails to include procedures for implementing the legislation which critics claim would significantly limit its impact. (To read Representative Ros-Lehtinen's "Dear Colleague" letter, click here).
After this letter went out, hours before the original bill was voted on, an additional alert was sent to Republican representatives urging them to vote against the bill, stating that the bill may support funding for abortions. However, the bill did not contain any funding for abortions and federal funding for abortions is prohibited by law. After these two letters went out, many Senators rescinded their support of the bill.
Said an enraged Senator Durbin, the Senate Majority Whip who introduced the Child Marriage Bill,
"The action on the House floor stopping the Child Marriage bill tonight will endanger the lives of millions of women and girls around the world... Those who voted to continue this barbaric practice brought shame to Capitol Hill."
What’s next?
While the bill failed this Congress, the efforts brought support from around the globe from individuals and organizations who remain committed to addressing child marriage. (Read this article by Mary Robinson and Desmond Tutu, or this article about child marriage in Zambia.)
Plan remains committed to this issue and protecting the rights of girls and boys. Child marriage is a violation of children's basic rights to a safe childhood, education, good health, and the ability to make decisions about their own lives. Feel free to comment below about your reactions, and how you'd like to take action on the issue.
Youth from around the state danced the night away at Plan USA's 5th annual Move to Stop AIDS Dance-a-Thon!
We were thrilled to raise $5,500 for Plan's HIV/AIDS programs in Zimbabwe, thanks to the hard work of YUGA youth, raffle prize money, and a generous donor who agreed to match everything raised at the Dance-a-Thon!
Check out pictures pictures from the Dance-a-Thon taken by YUGA member Rachel from Cranston East High School. Thanks to everyone who came out to a great night!
Two bands from Cranston East High School performed a song for the Dance-a-Thon.
Everyone at the Dance-a-Thon enjoyed music from DJ Tatu!
The finished pieces! Dance-a-Thon attendees helped paint four canvases to reflect their feelings about AIDS in different communities of the world.
Mayor Cicilline came to our Dance-a-Thon! He had great things to say about YUGA, and was excited to receive a plaque of thanks from YUGA members.
Pictured above: Clare, Arisa, Livia, Angie, and Carissa.
Representatives from Edesia hosted a table at the Dance-a-Thon. Edesia is a global nonprofit that treats malnutrition and extreme hunger, located right here in Providence! To learn more, visit http://www.edesiaglobal.com/.
Dancers from PAIS performed a traditional bellydance!
PAIS dancers perform a dance they choreographed themselves!
Above, Linda and Daniel- mother and son- do a capoeira demonstration.
Emily and AliceMae had a great time at the Dance-a-Thon!
To host a Dance-a-Thon at your school or community center, contact yuga@planusa.org!
On December 1st, the US Senate unanimously passed the International Protecting Girls by Preventing Child Marriage Act- a bill to protect girls in developing countries from early marriages. Girls as young as twelve can be married in many countries, which puts them at a great disadvantage for their health, education, and well-being.
“Tens of millions of women and girls around the world have lost their dignity, independence and lives due to child marriage,” said Senator Durbin, who first introduced the bill. “Child marriage denies these women and girls of an education, economic independence and is the root cause of many of the world’s most pressing development issues – HIV/AIDS, child mortality, and abject poverty. This bill is a powerful statement of our priorities as a nation and something that will change the lives of millions in some of the world’s forgotten places.”
The legislation will require the U.S. government to develop a comprehensive strategy to prevent child marriage, with the goal of eliminating the practice worldwide. The bill also seeks to promote the educational, health, economic, social, and legal empowerment of women and girls, and ensure that child marriage is globally recognized as a human rights violation.
UNICEF estimates that 60 million girls in developing countries now aged 20-24 were married before the age of 18. If current trends continue, this number will increase by 100 million over the next decade. This past summer, YUGA members learned about child marriage at YUGA Leadership Camp and several YUGA youth delivered 11,500 letters signed by our supporters to Congress. Now that the bill is on the brink of becoming law, we need even more support to ensure that it gets passed!
Urge your Representatives to approve the legislation. Send pictures, make a phone call, or find other creative ways to let your Representatives know that the bill should be passed. Make sure that everyone you know understands the importance of this bill, and that they should urge their Representatives to pass the bill, too! To find out who your state’s representative is, visit https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml.
Click here for more information about Plan’s work and the Preventing Child Marriage Act.
You may also want to read an Op-Ed in the Washington Post from Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland, and Desmond Tutu, archbishop emeritus of Cape Town, South Africa, about child marriage.
On this December 1st, youth all over the world will unite to show support for the global battle against HIV/AIDS. The World AIDS Campaign’s website hosts an international calendar of World AIDS Day (WAD) events, and here is a sampling of ways young people across the globe will be acting out against AIDS:
Members of the South Asia Regional Youth Network will change 10,000 Facebook profiles to support WAD 2010 in the Maldives, Sri Lanka, India, Bhutan, Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Iran.
In Nairobi, Kenya, youth volunteers who teach HIV/AIDS prevention through the performing arts will host a Youth Seminar for other teens.
Students in Bangkok will sell baked goods and merchandise and the profits will benefit a local home for disabled HIV positive children.
In Mexico City, university students will gather to spread awareness of HIV/AIDS transmission and testing.
Students in Canada will present the “Viral Monologues,” stories performed by youth and written by those infected with HIV/AIDS.
Lastly, students in Providence, RI will host the YUGA Move to Stop AIDS Dance-a-thon!
So now that you know a little about what youth all over the world are doing on World AIDS Day, what will you do? Hang a poster in your school or community to spread awareness. Announce World AIDS Day through your personal social networking sites. Research how the spread of HIV/AIDS has impacted the population of one specific country. Sign up to volunteer at a local HIV/AIDS clinic or resource center. Make and pass out red ribbons to family and friends. Attend a local World AIDS Day event. Check out a documentary on HIV/AIDS from your local video store. Wear red! And don’t forget to get your friends involved because the more people that speak out against HIV/AIDS, the louder the voice will be!
Hopefully with worldwide participation and cooperation, we will one day see the end of this terrible epidemic. Until then, thank you for participating in World AIDS Day 2010, and for everything else you do to raise awareness for global issues the other 364 days of the year!
My name is Katie and I am the new Youth Engagement and Action intern in Plan USA’s Washington, DC office. I am so excited to be part of the YEA team and to learn more about all the great work your YUGA chapters are doing across the country! Now to tell you a bit about myself: I love learning about other countries and I have been lucky enough to travel to every continent except for Australia (though it’s high on my list!). I even lived in Ecuador for a year and I really enjoyed immersing myself into a new culture practicing my Spanish, and trying lots of new foods (guinea pig included!). I spent the past two years working on global education programs in DC schools, and now I’m currently studying International Development Studies in graduate school. In my free time I love to explore the city, go to baseball games (I am one of the only true Nationals fans), and I love to dance!
Just like you, I really believe that we are all global citizens and that we must do our part to help one another. I am thrilled to do whatever I can to support your YUGA chapters and to help you raise awareness for global issues in your community. Best of luck and we’ll be in touch!
Poverty week for us really began two weeks before the actual designated week. Two weeks ahead, we had a planning meeting where we set out our goals for CHSE Poverty Awareness Week. We all agreed that we wanted to both raise awareness and money for poverty. So we decided our game plan for the week in a way that could reach both goals. First, we decided upon making a banner to hang up in our school telling everyone about our Poverty Week. In addition, we also came up with daily meseges we would have announced on the BBC (Bolt Broadcasting Corps, East's daily announcement service). We managed to make the 50 lunches for Crossroads, albeit we were almost stopped by some mishaps (many people forgot to bring the items they agreed to bring, or they, along with their items, just didn't show up). But, one of us ran to CVS and got the items we needed. But overall, the lunch making was extremely successful. We had over 20 people come to the meeting, which is triple the normal meeting attendees. Everyone was in high spirits and we made the 50 lunches in an organized fashion.
We also wrote some inspirational messages on notecards and put them inside the lunch bags to try and brighten the day for whoever recieved the lunch. And to top it all off, we posed in front of our Yuga Poverty Awareness Banner with the lunches like the coolcats we are B].
Oh, I can't forget our bake sale! The friday morning of that week, some of us brought in some cookies and cupcakes to give away free (in exchange for a small donation), since we're not allowed to "sell" cupcakes, since it goes against our school wellness policy. So we had to play with the terminology a bit. We set up a table in the cafeteria before homeroom to "give away the cupcakes". From there, most of us took the cupcakes on platter around the school, heckling people to donate and get a free cupcake in exchange. We raised I think about $60!
Everyone at some point in their lives has probably heard the expression “Come to the dinner table/eat your peas/finish your brussel sprouts! Don’t you know there are starving kids in the world?”
A few months ago, my six-year-old cousin Ann was dawdling to the dinner table when my uncle first said those well-known words to her. Her response was less well-known and not exactly the response her parents expected. Ann asked if they could tell her the addresses of the hungry kids so she could bring them her food because it made her sad that she had food and they didn’t. The expression aimed towards encouraging children to give thanks for what they have encouraged my cousin to give up her food to give to kids she didn’t even know so that they wouldn’t be hungry.
Who knew people in the United States, let alone youths in the United States, cared about helping people or appreciating what they have? After all, we’ve only recently been surpassed by China as the world’s largest consuming nation. We have less than 5 percent of the world population and use 21 percent of the world’s energy. We spend more money per day on blue jeans than some countries spend a year on food.
The United States actually gives the most money in aid to other countries; however, in terms of percent of all the money in the US, we’re very far from first place. Sweden, Luxembourg, Norway, Denmark, and the Netherlands far outrank the United States in terms of aid as a percent of all funds within the country. The United States and Japan are tied at .19% of national income going towards foreign aid.
Private philanthropy accounts for about 23% of all US funds towards other countries. Private philanthropy includes foundations, corporations, voluntary organizations, and universities and colleges. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, spearheaded by billionaire Bill Gates and his wife Melinda, is the most well known of these types of organizations.
The statistics and data sets and pie charts don’t mention the young philanthropists or the children like my cousin who, given the opportunity, would help out people they’d never met in a heartbeat. They appreciate everything they’ve been lucky enough to have in life and would go even further and give up what they have to help others. In the upcoming holiday season, keep children like Ann in mind, but also the children she wanted to help and who desperately need help.
Some YUGA Chapters have been able to get started quickly and easily. With the strong support of teachers and the principal, YUGA chapters can quickly come together and have a strong presence in schools. Our online issue toolkits, including the How to Start a YUGA Chapter toolkit, can help students become positive activists in their community.
Sometimes, however, students can run into obstacles to getting their group started. For sisters Nadyah and Jana, getting approval for a YUGA Chapter was a longer process than they had anticipated. "Things don't always turn out the way you want them to" says Nadyah. "I had many obstacles to face...But with the help of all the YUGA resources it was MUCH easier to get started."
She first met with her school's principal, but was asked to wait nearly two months for a response. After going through a lengthy approval process, she wasn't able to campaign for many of YUGA's issues. However, Nadyah was persistent with her school administrators and they were able to make a compromise. Nadyah's principal agreed to use some of the YUGA toolkits to help make her school a 'Green School,' an accreditation from the Maryland Association for Environmental and Outdoor Education (MAEOE). She's also scheduling a school assembly with ACE, the Alliance for Climate Education, who we heard this summer at YUGA Leadership Camp. By focusing on YUGA's campaign for climate change, Nadyah is able to get her peers involved with environmental sustainability and make a difference in her community.
"This wasn't what I had fully hoped for it to be," says Nadyah, "but by starting a small chapter, hopefully I will be able to advocate even more."
Kudos to Nadyah and Jana, who continue to fight for their voices to be heard!
