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I had it in my notes that I wanted to talk about sustainability and what it means to the girls being served by Hope for Hearts. Well today is World Food Day, no time like the present to dish out details. The premise behind World Food Day is through education and action, we can improve world hunger, create a better understanding about how foods we eat impact our world, and work to lessen the environmental impact from the global food system.

Did you know there are an estimated 870 million hungry people on the planet? To feed this many people, we need to increase production of basic staple foods by 60 percent.

At St. Elizabeth Girls Academy (SEGA), we want to do our part. The proposed new campus includes increased sustainability with a farm to table strategy. We will implement an animal husbandry and agriculture curriculum, currently not available at SEGA due to lack of land. These careers in Uganda are among the top sought out fields employing more than 80 percent of the labor force in Uganda.

The outcome of this plan will be beneficial in several ways.

First, the majority of the cost to run the orphanage – approximately $4.30 per child per week ($2500 per month) – is food and bare necessities. The SEGA expansion from one acre to approximately 45 acres includes farming the new land, thus, removing one of our largest expenses, food purchases.

Second, Hope for Hearts provides girls with valuable vocation skills so they can help themselves. The agricultural program will challenge girls to learn new abilities that will provide them with future vocational opportunities.

These are direct benefits of our mission. The focus on raising $4.5 million, the funds to purchase land and build a new campus, moves us towards this goal, and future food sustainability.

Now I challenge you to think about food more critically and how you can make a difference. Here are some ideas to get started.

• Break Bread: gather friends and family for a World Food Day meal. (See September 5 Blog) Talk about how you #hungerforachange.
• Organize a food-drive for the needy.
• Start a community garden.

Peace and Love,

Cristen

Shatter stereotypes  | End injustices  | Demand equality  | Change the world!

Everyday we advocate for girls’ rights.

Today, we call your attention to International Day of the Girl, a movement to raise awareness about the importance of educating girls. The theme for 2013: Innovating for Girls’ Education.

Change starts locally and spreads its roots globally. Today, I ask you to start with your community and engage in conversations about the barriers girls face to education – a mom too soon, early marriage, sex trafficking, violence, etc… – and share ways we can help to make a better future for girls.

Collective action leads to powerful change. As a global society, it is our responsibility to take the steps necessary to enhance every child’s experience. A girl lifted up through education will contribute to society and affect the world positively.

At St. Elizabeth Girls’ Academy, we provide an opportunity for our girls to walk from the streets into a classroom, with the goal of one day, the boardroom.

No school, equals, no choice for a future. The power of education: skills and the right support, allows girls to make choices for their future and create lasting change.

Let’s not watch her potential wither away. Educated girls break the poverty cycle. They are

• less likely to marry and to have children before she is ready.
• more likely to be literate, healthy and survive past her teen years.
• more likely to reinvest into her family, community and country.

You can help girls transform their lives and the world around them. Simply start the conversation and share our message.

Peace and Love,

Cristen

 

I was so wrapped up in my trip memories that I almost let another milestone slip away. We have 101 likes! Now that is cause to celebrate. My thought, lets give away some beads! So I closed my eyes and randomly moved the curser up and down and it stopped on…wait for it…

Sal Bau!

Congratulations Sal. Not only is Sal our winner, she is one of our top contributing fans to facebook. I thank not only Sal, but also everyone for sharing our mission of #girleducation in #Uganda.

You will be hearing an awful lot more about our beads in the coming months. Beads are just one of the outlets for women in Uganda to make a living. Our beads are handcrafted with love. Beads are a business. Proceeds from the sale of our beads supports St. Elizabeth Girls’ Academy. Not only are the beads supporting #girleducation, but the Ugandan women who design, create and sell the beads to support their own family.

Can’t wait to the next random bead giveaway? Check out our selection by clicking here.

Peace, Love & Beads

Cristen

 

 

 

 

Right now global leaders throughout the world are wrapping up the Social Good Summit.

 What is this?

Social Good Summit was launched three years ago during UN Week as an answer to the meetings that took place behind closed doors. The goal: use technology to allow people access to express their thoughts and speak their mind about solving the world’s most pressing issues.

So for those folks not within the confined walls of the UN General Assembly, today technology brings their ideas into the picture. Your voice matters. Check out the voices from the around the world that chimed in this week:

facebook

Pinterest

Twitter

What does it mean?

The Social Good Summit gathers feedback. What’s next? How do we solve our world’s greatest challenges for the next 15 years?

The hashtag #2030NOW allows summit participants to add their voice, the voice of many people and organizations around the world, to the conversation. The goal: Let those behind the closed-door meetings know what needs attention NOW in order to make the world a better place in 2030.

The international development community is buzzing with what comes after 2015 – when the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) forceful global effort to meet the needs of the world’s poor expire.

I know my answer. I am not alone. Girl education.

I leave you with a commentary from global leader, Jennifer Buffett – Extreme Poverty Can Be Eradicated By 2030 — But Only If We Put Adolescent Girls At The Heart Of The Post-2015 Agenda

Peace, Love and #2030NOW

Cristen

I want to share a video I came across. It is a powerful 18 minutes worth the investment. It’s a topic that definitely has people riding one side of the fence or the other. Dan says “Our generation does not want its epitaph to read, ‘We kept charity overhead low.’ We want it to read that we changed the world.”

Let me introduce you to activist and fundraiser, Dan Pallotta.

Dan Pallotta: The way we think about charity is dead wrong

You know I am all about change in this world. You know my passion for educating girls. You know I commit to hard work, and believe in a hand-up, not a handout. When it comes to business, charity and everything that makes the world go round, I will continue to fight for what I believe is our future, girl education.

In Dan’s bold talk, he says: Let’s change the way we think about changing the world.

I agree change is good.

Peace and Love,

Cristen