The Girl Effect: The Power of Grandmothers

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grandmother power, The Girl Effect, The Girl Effect blogging campaign

When I first saw “Grandmother Power” as this year’s Girl Effect blogging campaign I was confused. The Girl Effect is a global movement to educate girls and help them become community leaders, to break the cycle of child brides, poverty, death, and prostitution that happens when girls have no other options. ‘What do grandmothers have to do with that?’ Well, I had a facepalm moment not long after. “Grandmother Power” is a brilliant campaign for The Girl Effect for two reasons.

1. When girls aren’t able to wait and have children in her own time, they may not get to become grandmothers. Not having the money for proper care puts them at a much higher risk of complications and not being able to afford the expense of a baby pushes them to make dangerous decisions.

2. Grandmothers pass wisdom down to the younger generations. Whether we listen or not, they influence us. I went to the same college as my mother, who went to the same college as her aunt. That’s not why I went there, but consider if neither of them had gone to college. I would not have ended up where I did because what they studied influenced my education choices. When I needed a foreign language credit, I turned to my Mom to see what she could help me learn and that led me to that college.

Though both of my grandfathers died before I was born, I got to know both grandmothers. It’s weird the things I remember. Most of them are silly, like staying with one of them over the summer, having her pressure me into buying Pop Tarts (yes, you read that right) and then calling my mom to ask if she knows how much junk food I eat. But in the big picture, that grandmother was an inspiring influence. She taught me how to cook (or tried, rather). When her husband died, she raised my mom all by herself. Even though we didn’t always get along, it only took one look to make me burst into laughter. I forget sometimes that not everyone is lucky enough to have someone like that in their life.

What about your grandmother? Tell us in the comment’s section or join in the blogging event.

– Eliabeth

The Girl Effect Blogging Event

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blogging event, charities, community involvement, girls, international aid, outreach, poverty, The Girl Effect

Being a girl is hard enough without the extra pressures put on girls in poverty.  Women, remember being twelve?  No one expected you to be an adult and hopefully your biggest medical worry was the flu.  Men, could you imagine your sister, niece, daughter, or granddaughter married off at twelve, separated from her family and loved ones?  It is easy to sit back in our recliners and forget that not everyone gets to choose when they are married.

The world is not equal.  Did you know, according to The Girl Effect website “[l]ess than two cents of every international aid dollar is directed to girls.”

Less than two cents.

The Girl Effect

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charity, ermilia, girls, The Girl Effect

I don’t think either of us has posted about The Girl Effect.

http://www.facebook.com/girleffect

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIvmE4_KMNw&autoplay=1

This is our chosen main charity.  The Girl Effect is about letting girls have time to grow into women and not catapulting them into situations beyond their maturity level and quite frankly, unhealthy.  What if one of these girls was your daughter, would you be selling them into a marriage if you had another option?   Give families another option.

Or as they put it, “the world could use a kick in the pants”

http://www.girleffect.org/question

Like Ermilia, Like The Girl Effect on Facebook, you don’t have to contribute financially if, like us, you don’t have the money right now, but do something to show your support.  Put the G on your hand and post it to your wall.  You may spark interest for someone who does have the money.  We can change the world, sometimes all it takes is a post.