Playing a pivotal local part in the global movement that is uniting girls to change the world for the better, the American School of Doha (ASD) opened its doors to a three-day charity boutique – run by ASD’s Girl Up Club – to impressive results.
Girl Up, the United Nations Foundation’s campaign for girls, supports the development programmes that provide girls in developing countries with education, social, health, and economic opportunities. ASD’s Girl Up officially represents as the only United Nations (UN) recognised Girl Up Club in Qatar. Founded in 2013 by Sarah Hesterman, a former ASD student and current delegate of the Youth Assembly at the UN, this initiative of ASD has run for three consecutive years and is gaining ground with each edition.
Tables and wardrobe hanging rails stashed with heaps of cool clothes, shoes and accessories, captured the fancy of fashion-savvy teenagers who rifled through the wide variety and took their pick. Titled Fauxtique, the charity boutique organised by the Girl Up fundraising co-chairs Lina M and Halla E, was open to all ASD students, faculty, and staff. All the materials on display were donated by the ASD community in the hope of raising funds to further the education of girls in developing countries.
Sophia Hoiseth, current president of ASD’s Girl Up Qatar, told Community, “Girl Up Qatar is doing amazing things at the ASD, with an extremely passionate group of students who are always eager to help out. The Fauxtique was extremely successful and it spreads Girl Up’s message while raising a lot of money. The Fauxtique was an example of how Girl Up Qatar creates fun and innovative opportunities for fundraising. The funds that it raises go to both the United Nations and their front towards educating girls, and it goes directly to the tuition of girls who cannot afford schooling.”
The money raised will foot the tuition fees of two girls and the remaining funds will be sent to the UN for their fronts on educating girls, Hoiseth pointed out. The event raised a sum of a little more than QR8,000. The first day raised QR 4,500, which was enough to sponsor Esther, a 12-year-old Kenyan girl whose education has been sponsored by ASD Girl Up, for another year of schooling. Proceeds also supported Adeala, a college-aged Kenyan woman, whom the Girl Up club is sponsoring to pursue university and become a teacher.
Over the past three years, Girl Up Qatar has sent upwards of USD3,000 to Girl Up Headquarters; funds that will be directed towards the development of empowering adolescent girls in developing countries. Hoiseth said, “Girl Up Qatar gives members a chance to meet other students who are passionate about the empowerment of girls while also making a change through donating their time and efforts”.
The initiative to fundraise and advocate for the education of girls deprived of equal treatment, has opened an invitation to the ASD community and beyond to observe the progress of Girl Up Qatar through Facebook or, “consider starting a Girl Up club in your community to spread awareness about the disparities in girls’ education”.
A grassroots organisation in partnership with the United Nations Foundation that works towards eliminating the problems girls in developing countries face every day, Girl Up started off as a campaign for American girls before metamorphosing into a boundless movement with nearly half a million supporters and advocates from the US and around the world.
“Girls are powerful. When they’re educated, healthy, and safe, they transform their communities,” the United Nations Foundation says about the initiative. “When girls stand up for girls in need, they empower each other and transform our world. As the United Nations Foundation’s adolescent girl campaign, Girl Up engages girls to take action. Led by a community of nearly half a million passionate advocates raising awareness and funds, our efforts help the hardest to reach girls living in places where it is hardest to be a girl.”
Girl Up provides financial and other support to the UN through joint UN programmes in Ethiopia, Guatemala, Liberia, Malawi, and India. Since 2010, Girl Up has partnered with the United Nations to support programmes that give girls an equal chance for education, health, social and economic opportunities, and a life free from violence.
The United Nations Foundation points out, “Our unique leadership training and skill development has created a generation of current and future girl leaders; leaders who have helped Girl Up raise millions of dollars for United Nations programmes, lobbied members of Congress to stop child marriage and ensure that girls are registered at birth, and have showed their schools, friends and communities the true power of girls.”