Can GirlForward's Superior Program Structure For Refugee Girls Be Applied To American Girls?

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Can GirlForward's Superior Program Structure For Refugee Girls Be Applied To American Girls?

The Austin, Texas branch of Girl Forward, a nonprofit founded in Chicago in 2011, is run exclusively by millennial women for high-school age refugee girls. Politico profiled the group in November 2018, landing in Austin. because Texas is second only to California in its refugee population.

GirlForward is predicated on the notion that refugee girls face particular hardships due not only to the tumultuous circumstances of their upbringing and relocation but also their gender. “Oftentimes, our girls haven’t been able to pursue education in the same way their brothers have,” Shannon Elder, 24, GirlForward’s Austin development manager, observes. “In countries of conflict, girls’ access to education can be much more limited than it is for boys,” said Arielle Levin, who runs the mentorship program. GirlForward recruits refugees through Austin nonprofits, schools, and word of mouth. It tries specifically to recruit the oldest daughter in a family, reasoning that they are usually shouldered with the heaviest burdens. “A lot of my family don’t speak English,” said Storai Rana, an 18-year-old refugee from Afghanistan, “so there was so many responsibilities of things I had to do. Like I had go to the bank, to the market,” she said.

Girl Forward attempts to help its girls lead lead full and rich lives, moving behind tangible tools like opening a checking account or learning how to use the local library.

Fatima Mirzakhail, an 18-year-old refugee, told Politico’s Ethan Epstein that her initial optimism on arriving in America and leaving her war-torn country of Afghanistan soon evaporated. “In Afghanistan I felt like I was in a box, and I couldn’t fly anywhere.” Fatima explained. Her expectations that life in America would be so different soon evaporated. Before becoming part of Girl Forward, “I was crying all the time, hating myself,” she said.  Now Fatima is blossoming “planning on attending a local community college next year before transferring to UT. “

Malala Yousafzai Makes Emotional 4-Day Return To Pakistan, Will Travel To Swat Valley→

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Malala Yousafzai Makes Emotional 4-Day Return To Pakistan, Will Travel To Swat Valley

My heart just dropped a bit, reading that Malala Yousafzai is in Pakistan. In her Netflix David Letterman interview, the world's youngest Nobel Laureate talks about how she misses "the rivers and mountains" of her home in Swat Valley and all she wanted was for her "feet to touch the ground of home."

Malala is now home for the first time since she was attacked on her school bus, shot at close range with a bullet to her head. Now 20 and studying at Oxford, Malala is expected to stay primarily in Islamabad, Pakistan's capital, during her four-day visit. 

“I still can’t believe that it is actually happening,” the global activist for girls education said in a visibly emotional speech at the office of Pakistan's Prime Minister Shadid Khaqan Abbasi on Thursday. “In the last five years, I have always dreamed of coming back to my country.”

As the audience erupted into moved and emotional applause, Malala broke into tears and for a moment cupped her hands to cover her face.

“I am just 20 years old, but I have seen a lot in life,” she continued with a choked voice, recalling how she grew up in the picturesque Swat region only to watch it slide into extremism and terrorism. “I never wanted to leave my country.”

Malala wil be traveling to the Swat Valley in her four-day visit, Earlier this month, a new girls’ school built with her Nobel prize money opened in Shangla, near her home district of Swat. Malala will inaugurate the official opening of the school.

Malala Yousafzai's Oxford Acceptance Is A Bright Spot In A Week Of Dreadful News

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Malala Yousafzai's Oxford Acceptance Is A Bright Spot In A Week Of Dreadful News

In a week of dreadful events, news that Malala Yousafzai is going to Oxford was a bright spot. The 20-year-old Pakistani-born activist who is the world's youngest Nobel laureate, tweeted her acceptance to the world on Thursday. 

In March, Malala received a conditional offer from Oxford’s Lady Margaret Hall, contingent on her exam results. Pakistan’s first female prime minister and the first woman to head a democratic government in a Muslim majority nation, Benazir Bhutto, also studied at Lady Margaret Hall in the 1970s.. Bhutto was assassinated in December 2007 in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. 

Besides her acceptance to Oxford, Malala's courageous intellect loomed large in Fox News' Murdoch world. Malala's story attracted mention -- along with "12 Years a Slave' -- in James Murdoch's now infamous anti-Trumpian response to Charlottesville email. 

#KodeWithKarlie Kloss | Girls Only Win 20 Scholarships To NYC Flatiron School In Summer 2015

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Flatiron School is partnering with Karlie Kloss to create the Kode with Karlie Scholarship. The scholarship will give 20 girls across the country free tuition to Flatiron Pre-College Academy’s Introduction to Software Engineering course.

2014 Variety Power of Women Luncheon Winners & Their Activist Projects

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2014 Variety Power of Women Luncheon Winners & Their Activist Projects

AOC Smart Sensuality readers want more substance in their celebrity news — who cares that Jennifer Lopez and Reese Whitherspoon wore complementary dresses to the 2014 Variety Power of Women Luncheon Winners. 

Co-hosted with Lifetime TV, the October 10 luncheon paid tribute to Viola Davis and Donna Langley in addition to Fonda, Lopez and Witherspoon. We share details about these five women and the important philanthropy projects motivate them, because — for the most part — fashion bloggers don’t dig below the surface of who wore what. 

October 11 Is International Day of the Girl | Honoring Malala Yousafzai's Nobel Peace Prize & Angelina Jolie As A British Dame

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Eye | October 11 Is International Day of the Girl | Honoring Malala Yousafzai's Nobel Peace Prize & Angelina Jolie As A British Dame

On Friday Malala Yousafzai became the youngest winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, sharing the honor with India’s Kailash Satyarthi, who has dedicated himself to fighting child slavery in India for decades.

Malala has amazed millions of Westerners as an articulate survivor of the attempts of Pakistan’s Taliban to kill her. A vocal advocate for girls education who already had a blog on the BBC website, Malala was shot in the head by the Taliban, who commandeered her school bus. Not only did Malala Yousafzai defy all odds of surviving with her brain intact, she has achieved global rock star status as a change advocate for children.