On a recent visit to Bangladesh, MasterChef alumni Kishwar Chowdhury had the opportunity to immerse herself and experience first-hand the life-changing work that World Vision are doing. Visiting the centres, she was able to witness World Vision’s “deep focus on changing the mindset but also empowering the mindset of the youth to take ownership and control over their lives.” Not only is the work they’re doing changing lives, its changes generations and communities too.
After her visit and hearing the resilient young girls speak, Chowdhury knew that she needed to lend her voice to the conversation and hopefully empower their lives.
International Day Of The Girl
As International Day Of The Girl approaches on October 11th, marie claire, in partnership with World Vision, is looking to showcase why the day marks such a special occasion.
The initiative “focuses attention on the need to address the challenges girls face and to promote girls’ empowerment and the fulfilment of their human rights.” The day aims to draw attention to the unmet needs these girls are living with.
“The girl I am, the change I lead: Girls on the frontlines of crisis,” is the increasingly appropriate theme for this year. Chowdhury’s recent visit to Bangladesh has shown, now more than ever, how fitting the theme is.
Shaping A Future
For Chowdhury, her most significant takeaway from her time in Bangladesh is that, despite leading different lives, we’re all globally connected. It’s just by a “stroke of luck” that we were born here. Young girls globally are facing serious barriers to even the most basic rights, such as schooling and privacy.
Chowdhury listened to a group of brave, eloquent young girls speaking about how, due to shared bathrooms in schools that lack proper sanitary disposal options, they end up missing a week of school every month to be able to handle their periods with privacy and dignity at home.
These young girls showcase their resilience every day in their community-minded spirit, environmental activism and willingness to stand up and share their stories. Chowdhury was quite literally “moved to tears through witnessing their resilience”. Because as she told marie claire, “these young children are much, much braver than I will ever be. I’m inspired by them. I’m truly in awe of what they do in spite of their living conditions, their environmental conditions, and the political conditions that they face every day. They’re my heroes”.
They already have the heart, the spirit and the resilience; all they need are the tools to overcome their situations. By sponsoring a child, you can make a significant difference to a young girl’s life. When sponsored, she’ll be able to “stay on path, stay on track, stay safe”.
How Your Actions Can Help
It might sometimes feel like there’s nothing you can do to change what’s going on in the world. But through the 1000 girls’ program, we’ve learnt that even the simplest donation, conversation or sponsorship can spark meaningful change. As Maya Angelou once said, “you have no idea what your legacy will be. Your legacy is what you do every day. Your legacy is every life you’ve ever touched.” So, in a world where it’s so easy to see only the negative, choose to be the shining light in someone else’s life.
World Vision child sponsorship in an ongoing donation that costs just $48 a month but the benefits are far and wide. Sponsoring a child means working with a girl and her community holistically. As a child sponsor, you will give her support in education, food, water, child protection – everything she needs to create a brighter future for herself.
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