Sheila Barno
Kenya

“Many children in my community do not go to school, especially girls. They are simply taught household chores and married off at an early age.  My own mother is one such victim.”
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Editor’s note: This is the second of two articles we are running this month by students at the AIC Morop Girls’ Secondary School in Nakuru, Kenya.
It is now 16 years since I was born. I am now in Form Three but I am yet to see any sign of women living an exemplary life. …

Edna Atieno
Kenya

“I decided to gather my broken pieces.  I decided to share my experience with other girls who had undergone similar experiences. I encouraged them to take heart and gather the broken pieces.”

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Editor’s note: This is the first of two articles we are running this month by students at the AIC Morop Girls’ Secondary School in Nakuru, Kenya.
Peace is one of the most essential things for the healthy and proper growth of a girl, but lack of peace has been one of the causes of the exploitation of …

Vanessa Ortiz
USA (posting from Zimbabwe)
“Looking back, I think my father was an unknowing accomplice to the empowerment of his girls.”

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I grew up surrounded by a culture of machismo. In the 1960s – the era of feminism – in a Latino culture in which immigrant wage earners were men who worked two and sometimes three jobs, a woman’s place was in the home.  Against this backdrop was my family, led by a tough and educated mother with five children – four of whom were “the girls” – my younger brother, …

by Alicia Simoni
What do men talk to each other about? I mean really talk about – when they’re not rattling off a play-by-play rendition of last night’s baseball game or ribbing each other about who lost the most recent friendly competition. What do they talk about when it comes to the things that really matter?
Having grown up as the only female among my two brothers and my Dad, the world of men has long been both all too familiar and a grand ole mystery to me. I’m someone who thinks …