In India, it is not yet past history that girls are sold into marriage, sexual slavery, or forced labor. What we do know now in the day and age of global awareness, is that girls who are allowed to pursue an education have a higher sense of self worth and tend to not fall off the charts and into situations like these over which they have no control. Education pulls girl children out of the miasma…but affording an education is still the block. Financial struggle is enough to snuff out her dreams and force her to resign herself to a life without control.
The Girl Store is a bit of clever marketing from the Nanhi Kali Foundation that is dedicated to the girls of India. At the Girl Store, you simply pledge to purchase specific items needed to send a girl to school. $22 for school books, for example. $19 for a backpack or math kit. $10 for a school uniform, $14 for the uniform shoes (uniforms are often required to attend school, and can be the difference in a family affording to send their daughter). It is a highly visual website with girls and their particular requirements laid out for easy connection to your heart, and ideally, your wallet. Check it out, but a lunch set or fourth-grade workbook, and help get another girl into a life where she makes decisions for herself. You can also sponsor a child for a full year for just $65 (grades 1-7) or $85 (grades 8-10). The concept of “Buying a Girl” is provocative, and while the campaign is slick (and controversial) it should not be loaded by us with all the additional baggage our political correctness can unduly add. Be clear about the effort, the intent, and the full execution of the plan, to Buy a Girl Her Life Back.
Change by Doing 