Actress Naomi Harris on Playing Teacher Jane

We here at LitWorld are proud to partner with the team of The First Grader movie in helping them launch their incredible film about an 84 year old man fighting for his right to read and learn, even if it means being in a classroom of six-year old students. Here in this article, actress Naomi Harris talks about her journey playing the role of "Teacher Jane", and the importance of girls education:

"One of the many challenges for these children is maintaining a focus on education because so many of them are called to work. For young girls especially, it's incredibly important for them to receive an education early on as they're likely to be pulled out of school at 13 or even younger to marry. And in all likelihood, it is these girls who will educate their own children. Those thoughts circled my mind, when the students, like little Susan, who had the most striking eyes I'd ever seen, would gently hold my hand." - Naomi Harris

Read the rest of the article HERE.

Our Girls Clubs Attend the Gala! (Part 2)

Our Harlem Teens from the Polo Grounds Community Center looked radiant at the Gala last week! They even had special roles to play during the event: Stephanie Marfo and her brother, Brian Marfo, spoke in front of the audience to share their experiences in the LitWorld programs. Stephanie is in the Girls Club, and her brother Brian participates in the new Boys Club program.

Photos by: Wesley Bent

Stephanie, Harlem Teen Girls Club Facilitator and Staff Member Ruby Veridiano,

Brian, and Tiffany

Daija, Aisatou, VP of Polo Grounds Center Tonyna McGhee, & Tiffany

Tiffany, Stephanie, & Nikeya Stuart of the Polo Grounds

Aisatou with incoming LitWorld intern Emily

Everyone enjoyed seeing them, and we were happy they came downtown to share this special evening with us!

Our Girls Clubs attend the Gala! (Part 1)

Some of our younger Girls Club participants from P.S. 8 and Harlem Polo Grounds got all dressed up to join us at our Gala! They charmed just about everyone there! Check out the beautiful photos below, taken by Nathalie Schueller:

P.S. 8 Girls Club participant, Lou, with our LitWorld staff member Alyssa Dudzik

Lou with our Executive Director Pam Allyn!

With the Harlem Polo Grounds Girls!

Overlooking the stage

We loved having our Girls Club girls share our evening with us! We had so much fun watching their pretty dresses whirl around. :)

Baking @ the Polo Grounds and Nina’s 1st Appearance

Our Thursday Girls Club made Yummy treats for both themselves and the staff at the community center!

Imani, Tati, and Vanessa with the help of Nina (in the back) worked on making rainbow cakes with vanilla icing. 

The other ½ of the group made delicious chocolate chip cookies. The picture below is of the of the tough but well needed mixing being done.

 While waiting for the treats to bake, we spoke about what the girls liked to eat, and also what they commonly ate at home. The girls realized that there were a lot of different foods being made among their group, some foods that they had never heard of before!. They spoke to us about how much more fun it is making the treats themselves, establishing a great sense of community among each other. Nothing can bring people together like food can! Eating together, learning together. We love our Girls Club community.

Women Hold Up Half the Sky

In the Summer of 2009, The New York Times published a special issue on their magazine dedicated to women, entitled "Saving the World's Women". In this issue, authors Nicholas Kristof and wife Sheryl Wu Dunn published their essay, derived from their book about women, "Half the Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity for Women Worldwide". Read the article HERE, and watch Sheryl Wu Dunn's powerful TED speech below, staking the urgency for all the world's women, and our duty to uplift them.

New Girls Clubs Launch in Kisumu, Kenya!

Above: Kisumu Teachers on their Skype Training with LitWorld Staff

In partnership with the Millennium Cities Initiative, LitWorld has trained a group of educators to launch several Girls Clubs in the city of Kisumu, Kenya. Millennium Cities Initiative (MCI) is a project of the Earth Institute, Columbia University, that assists sub-Saharan cities in their efforts to make severe poverty a thing of the past. MCI also works to empower women of the community, and has linked us here at LitWorld with a wonderful group of educators who have dedicated their time to working with the young women in their local town. We are excited to launch these girls clubs in Kisumu!

The new Kisumu Girls Clubs have also received a mini-grant through LitWorld, which greatly helped in securing the supplies the Girls Clubs would need (pens, notebooks, art supplies, etc.).

Our Girls Clubs need support to get materials to the places they are needed most. To help sponsor a Girls Club, send an inquiry to girlsclubs@litworld.org or make a donation on our Global Giving page.

*Special thanks to LitWorld Programming Director, Jen Estrada, for leading the trainings, with help from Alyssa Dudzik and Ruby Veridiano.

News from UNESCO Bangkok: Fight Poverty, Invest in Girls

UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization in Bangkok, Thailand, released an article with these important words: "If we are serious about making a real, positive change to society, we need to make a firm commitment to a long-term investment in girls’ and women’s education."

This week, May 2-8, marks Global Action Week, an annual event commemorated worldwide to highlight the importance of Education for All. UNESCO Bangkok is using this week to campaign for Gender Equality in Education:

" Let’s use this important occasion to take a closer look at this year’s theme: Gender Equality in Education. Education leads to profound life-changing choices. However, in this advanced age of the 21st Century, over 39 million girls in the Asia-Pacific region, who do not have access to a primary-level education, are still denied this fundamental human right."

In East-Asia and the Pacific, a staggering 74.5 million women are illiterate, representing 71 per cent of total 105 million adults. Women in South Asia have only half as many years of education as their male counterparts. in South and West Asia, on average, only one in two women could read and write.

Let us join UNESCO Bangkok in standing up for Girls Education. With our Vision for Girls Clubs this year, we hope to bring our Girls Club for Literacy Program to Thailand in the near future!

A Poem By Sona Traore

Sona Traore is a young Liberian woman who wrote this heartfelt poem in spirit of last month's Global Poem for Change. The poem, entitled "Hope", is a call for us make this world better for the future. We thank Sona for her beautiful words that speak to us all: 

Hope
Why can’t we be ourselves?
Why can’t we be humble?
What type of world is this?
You can say whatever you feel,
You can say whatever you like,
Even when it’s not right.
Many are losing their lives every day and night
Cause they are fighting for their right.
What is going to happen to me, do I have a future?
What is my answer to a broken heart?
Cause my eyes are getting red.
My shirt is getting wet cause the pains never seem to stop.
Is this going to end or is this a start to a life of pain?
I don’t seem to be proud of this world.
Why do we get to live this life?
Are there saviors to protect us from bad senses of humor?
We need a humble hearto start from somewhere
And change the world into a better place.
Let’s help save our world and children around the globe.
Start a new home for those who feel alone,
 People of the world this is our time to build more room for the future generation.
Let’s do this.

Video: Girls Club in Baguio City Read Global Poem for Change

Our Girls Club in Baguio City, Philippines celebrate Poetry Month by creating a group poem for the Global Poem for Change! We love their piece! Watch them recite their work below:

I send my words out into the air, listening for yours from everywhere,

I send my words into the air, thinking that you’ll be here.

My words are saying meaningful things, that you can carry everywhere.

I send my love to everyone, just so no one will feel alone,

For it’s my way to express it.

And watching you from everywhere.

A beautiful paper floating outside, having ideas that people can’t hide,

It’s a great day I feel today,

Hoping that all of us will be okay.

Have a great smile today to have good luck coming your way!

Thinking that you’ll be away makes me sad,

To know what you want and what you need

Thinking what would happen next, and it gives me reason to live again,

The rushing cold breeze shall send you what I feel.

For this session (on Curiosity), in honor of National Poetry Month, I introduced the Global Poem for Change to the girls, and then had each one of them write a line to add to the poem. After everyone had completed writing their lines, I separated the girls into two groups: the first group organized the first seven lines to form one half of their poem, and then the second group completed the poem with the final seven lines, and did the final check for the newly created poem. The girls then altogether read the poem aloud to see if they liked it, and they did! So here is the final poem. The girls felt proud to be able to accomplish this altogether, and I think they were surprised to hear and see it all come together! Enjoy!

- From Baguio City Girls Club Facilitator, Crystal Catalan

Poems by our Girls Club at P.S. 8 Brooklyn!

As poetry month wraps up to an end, the girls of the P.S. 8 Brooklyn Girls Club offered a few short poems that express the beauty of their Girls Clubs gatherings. Check them out below:

  Samantha:

Girls Club Poem

Great Club

It makes girls come together

Really fun

Lit World

Smiles, puts smiles on girls faces

Cares

Love

You will love it

Sophie:

Girls Club Girls

   excited

funny

nice

flabbergasted

cool

friendly

easy going

teachable

extreme

intelligent

supportive

my friends

Alma:

   GIRLS
    We girls are very unique,
    Not all of us like to go to the boutique.
    
      We may be all fancy shmancie,
    Or on our SpongeBob skate board.
    
    Our fingers done hair upright,
    (only ‘cause it gives mom a delight.)

    We’ve won the Nobel Prize from baby to full grown,
    We will never be alone.

Our Girls Clubs Throughout the World Partner with New Moon Girls Magazine

We are excited to announce our new Girls Club partnership with New Moon Girls Magazine, a magazine for girls by girls. This year, as expand the vision for our Girls Clubs, we have joined forces with New Moon Girls to give girls throughout the world another platform to share their stories.

New Moon Girls magazine is about helping girls discover and honor their true selves, engage in meaningful pursuits and dialogue, and express their voices in ways that matter. We are excited to see what will come about. To join the New Moon community, visit their website, sign up for a subscription, and join as a member!

To view the special story New Moon did with LitWorld and another one of our partners, Millenium Cities Initiative, please go HERE and click on the links!

Girls Club Harlem Go On Their First College Visit!

Our Teen Girls Club at Polo Grounds went on their first college visits last week. It was so inspiring to watch them get so excited about what's to come for their future. These young women are headed for success, with a brand new determination and motivation to get to where they want to be: college. The girls got a chance to visit Barnard College, Columbia University, Fordham University, and the quaint campus (and gorgeous castle!) of Manhattanville College. Thanks to Professor Katie Cunningham at Manhattanville, the girls had a special day planned out just for them, complete with their favorite activity: a luncheon at an offical college dining hall!

One of the best moments for me was watching Aisatou gaze over the Columbia campus, wave her arm in front of the grand sight she sees, and then proclaims, "I can't wait to experience ALL of this someday." Check out our photos below, along with a personal reflection piece written by Natasha Croom on the bottom of the entry. -Ruby, Teen Girls Harlem Facilitator

On the Steps of the Columbia University Library

In Front of the Beautiful Castle at Manhattanvile College

Debriefing the College Visit Experience with our E.D. Pam Allyn, Michael Robles of the Polo Grounds, LitWorld Special Projects Coordinator Jen Estrada, Programs Assistant Alyssa Dudzik, and our intern Nadia Hudani. 

A Reflection of the College Visit Experience

By: Natasha Croom

The college experience last week was really fun. It was so exciting and real. It felt like I was about to go to college even though I really have one more year. I really love all three of the schools we visited.

Manhattanville college was my favorite one. It inspired me so much. I'm going to apply there my senior year. Fordham University was fun, too. I'm thinking about applying there, but it is too close to home and I really want to live on campus. I can't wait to dorm at my new University!

Now that college is a year away, I'm already planning on scholarships and financial aid. The college trip inspired me to pull my grades up, and to get ready for my personal essay. Exciting things ahead!

P.S. 8 Brooklyn Girls Club Puts a New Twist on Social Studies

Marybeth Gazlay, the facilitator for the Brooklyn Girls Club at P.S. 8, puts a new twist on Social Studies for the girls! These photos are a sneak peek of what the girls in Brooklyn have been up to.  As you can see from the first two pictures, Marybeth supplements their Social Studies curriculum with use of a subscription of Time Magazine for Kids.  She uses non-fiction as a genre to teach skills including current events, map work, and to begin challenging the girls to begin critical thinking.

 

They also use arts education, and this picture above is from a trip to the Guggenheim Museum in NYC.  The girls had a Guggenheim Teaching Artist that worked with them for 20 weeks in many different mediums! 

 

This last picture is another program used to supplement their Social Studies curriculum called Foundations of Democracy through the Center for Civic Education programming.  It promotes character education through reading, writing, and role playing. 

Thank you so much for all your great work, Marybeth! We love seeing these young girls develop into confident young leaders through your guidance and leadership.



Our Vision: A Girls Club in Every Country, Every City

Throughout the world, 774 million people are illliterate, and 2/3 of that number are women.

Because of this, one of our biggest programs is our LitWorld Girls Clubs for Literacy, a reading and writing program that empowers young women to tap into their extraordinary strengths and meet their personal needs.

This year, we want to expand our program to different parts of the world. LitWorld staff provides training (via Internet video conference) and fully supports new partners as they launch this program.

LitWorld Girls Clubs for Literacy provide support, mentorship, and a safe space for girls to learn. The program allows girls to connect and become part of an international network of young women, encouraging a global perspective and a global connection. We currently have 20 Girls Club sites worldwide in countries including the United States, Kenya, Liberia, Ghana, Iraq, and the Philippines.

We would love to include your country and your city on our list. If you are interested in starting a LitWorld Girls Club for Literacy, please email us at girlsclubs@litworld.org. Together, we can create a safe, supportive world for all girls.

To donate to LitWorld's Girls Clubs for Literacy, please see our Global Giving Site HERE.

To learn more about LitWorld's Girls Clubs for Literacy, please visit the Girls Club link HERE.

Baguio City Girls Club Celebrate Belonging and Sisterhood

The past couple of meetings for the Girls Club here in Baguio City, Philippines have helped to foster the sisterhood that is celebrated every week here among the high school girls. After reading the poem, Identity Crisis by fellow Filipino, Jake Erkens, the girls created their Identity Web by way of using markers. Before they knew it, the large posterboard was covered with intersecting lines! After everyone had completed drawing their lines, we took a few moments of silence just to reflect on what was created. Looking at the similarities and also the differences that were shared in this group of girls, they mentioned how it brought them together, especially as their school year slowly comes to a close.

After reading the poem, Belonging by Tracy Owens, each of the girls shared the different clubs and extra-curricular activities that they are involved in, outside of school. From the poem, the girls highlighted the line, “Belonging brings laughter through the difficulties,” as laughter was discovered as their common trait! Drawing their heart maps, many of them highlighted Church and Girls Club as places where they have developed meaningful relationships. It was an exciting past two sessions of Girls Club!

- From facilitator Crystal Catalan

The Power of Girls Education

via ESPN

We found this article via the ESPN website, and thought it was a beautiful story to share. The author, Mo Akiode, is a former basketball star player at Fordham University, and now resides in Nigeria, her homecountry, where she leads Hope 4 Girls Africa, a non-profit organization dedicated to the increased participation of underprivileged African girls in sports and education.

The photo above is of Uju Ugoka and Ijeoma Uchendu, two girls from Nigeria that Mo helped to bring to Grayson college on a basketball scholarship.

She writes:

A few dreams came true when I watched the girls leave the shores of Nigeria and headed for Texas, fulfilling their dream of playing college basketball in the U.S and my dream of supporting education and opportunity for girls from Africa. Grayson College's first-year coach Elena Lovato gave our girls an opportunity to better their lives together as collegiate student-athletes. When I first met Ijeoma and Uju in 2009, they were not in school, like many of the other students. They were finding their ways through life, but both families lacked the means to do better for their girls. (Uju is one of eight children, and Ijeoma is one of seven.) There was so much potential there, but it had yet to be maximized. I knew if these girls had an opportunity to show their talent and their work ethic, their lives would never be the same. I couldn't imagine what my life would be like without my college experience, and I was obsessed with making that happen for these young ladies.

In all our programs, we emphasize the importance of education, as education is the great equalizer in all things. Because of education, the sky is the limit for these two young women, and I've always believed the first step out of poverty starts with an educated and enlightened mind. In Africa, we need to do a better job of using sports as a social development tool to support and encourage our girls through the many hardships they face growing up in an impoverished environment. Uju and Ijeoma will always serve as a reminder that every sacrifice made, every tear shed and every sleepless night was more than worth it.

To read the rest of the story, click HERE.

Girls Club Kensington Add to Our Global Poem for Change

As you may know by now, we at LitWorld are celebrating Poetry Month! We are using Naomie Shihab Nye's Line to get started: I send my words out into the air/Listening for yours from everywhere. The Girls Club at Kensington each added their own lines to make a collective contribution to our Global Poem for Change!

These words send peace 

Love and care

It also flows

Through the air 

The sky is beautiful 

Sometimes blue or gray

No matter what color it is 

Like our words, it will always be everywhere

These words are yours

These words are mine

These words are for everyone

No one is alone and everyone is a part of this rhyme

Words can express many things

Tick, Tock the bells are going to ring

So happy that I'm loved

I feel like a dove

My words express my heart

It also can be used to express my art

Inspiration comes from the world

Sometimes it takes so long

But I will wait here

Patiently for the words to come

Girls Prep Girls Club Add Color to Their Words!

City Arts, a long time arts organization in New York City, came to visit the Girls Prep Girls Club to teach the girls how to make watercolor masterpieces. Each girl wrote a Haiku about what they believe peace means to them,  and then used watercolors to paint their image. These beautiful photos record some of their ideas!

Harlem Teens Celebrate Poetry Month

In the spirit of National Poetry Month and LitWorld's Global Poem for Change Campaign, the Harlem Teens wrote some poems sparked by author Naomi Shihab Nye's words:

I send my words out into the air, listening for yours from everywhere....

They both decided to dedicate their poems to their mothers.

Tiffany, 17:

I send my words out into the air

Listening for yours from everywhere

You are a part of me.

Without you I would not stand

On my own two feet

You are the bridge on my path

Holding me up through my ups and downs.

Stephanie, 14:

I send my words out into the air

Listening for yours from everywhere

I want to tell you that I love you

That no one on this Earth can make me feel

As special as you can

I hope I have become what you expected me to become

Somewhere, somehow, we will speak

Whether it is from the wind in the air

Or the stars in the sky

We will always have a bond

And I know we will hear each other,

Becuase you won't give up on me.

So I am sending my words out into the air

Listening for yours from everywhere.

The Girls Club at JFK Elementary School in Port Chester, NY is still rolling!

By: Facilitator Alyssa Dudzik

In the past two sessions, the group has excitedly read aloud "Where the Mountain Meets the Moon" by Grace Lin.  Using their creativity, each girl created their "own endings" to the story based on what they learned about the plot, characters, and illustrations in their Girl Clubs notebooks!  The club then went around and shared their own endings, chock full of exciting tales filled with dragons, bravery, and true love.  The JFK girls loved this book so much that they planned to read this chapter book aloud for 5 minutes each week so they can hear the ending Grace Lin chose.

The girls also continue to work on their Seven Strengths posters!  Of all the strengths, (Confidence, Compassion, Sisterhood, Curiosity, Belonging, Esteem, Hope), these girls almost all chose HOPE as their favorite!   After brainstorming what each of the seven strengths mean to them, the girls paired up and wrote words and drew pictures for each strength on bright yellow paper.  Their poster will proudly be featured at LitWorld's fundraising Gala in May!