“You know my name, but that doesn’t mean you know my story”

By:Yasmin Razack

It was a cold fall night when I was underneath my cozy blankets so excited I had time to veg on the couch when my phone started BLOWING UP.

“Turn it on PBS!!!!”, “You have to watch this documentary ‘Half the Sky’”.

Texts, WhatsApp, Facebook and Twitter were all updating with gut wrenching stories documented in the film “Half the Sky”  from women and girls worldwide on the fight for the rights many of us take for granted.  

So I watched it, holding my heart in my hand the entire time as a woman, daughter, sister but most of all: MOTHER.

It was so inspiring I rushed straight to the website halfthesky.org seconds after the film to donate but I wanted to do more.

A lot more.

I couldn’t sleep for most of the night, images of these women and girls from all over the world who shared their horrific stories we know exists were racing though my mind….How could we do more to address them?

I thought of Centennial College immediately, and their commitment to global citizenship.  YES! I can pitch an idea to my supervisor and run with it. Right?

But these were issues of sex slavery, child prostitution, maternal mortality, human trafficking….would students be motivated and engaged with such heavy topics?

The idea was to engage every school through the curriculum to create an assignment requesting students to develop a social action strategy that works to empower women and girls worldwide.

How could we get students to care about this?

In order to get the students motivated I thought of the idea of a competition between each Academic School. The winners would be awarded $1000 in the name of a Global Citizenship and Equity Innovation Fellowship that will allow the students to actualize their goals and make the proposed social action strategy sustainable.

YES!!!!

We just needed to get the students from each school excited, enthusiastic and committed to developing a presentation that would detail their proposed social action strategy.

What happened after this vision I could of never imagined in my wildest of dreams.

Our amazing GCE team secured ALL schools to include Half the Sky in their curriculum  by co-developing an assignment that was industry specific and addressed the oppression of women and girls.

We called it Global Citizenship and Equity Co-Curricular Week with the theme from Half the Sky:  Turning Oppression into Opportunity of Women and Girls Worldwide. Each school had their own mini-competitions in order to select a WINNER for the final competition on March 25^th, 2013 (poster above).

The students were beyond engaged!

In the opening of one presentation a student talked about her own cousin who was murdered by her husband and her body parts were only found this past February. Another group highlighted female infanticide in India and to date over 10 million babies have been murdered on the sole basis that they are born a girl.

Groups developed videos, PSAs, songs, poems, t-shirts that read “ 5 years old, sold for $10.00”. Students created and registered their own organizations, Facebook pages, charitable pledges, and contacted organizations around the globe that are currently working on these very issues.

By far the most amazing thing that has come out of this week was the passion, dedication and commitment of these students.  Many students were personally motivated because of their own story growing up as a girl. It was so hard to choose ONLY one winning team from each school. 

One women was so frustrated how she was treated as a single mother of 3 so decided to work with this community to break down barriers that prevent these woman from achieving success. She wanted to do more, and had an idea brewing for 6 years and it was THIS initiative that motivated her actualize her goal of the Don’t Label Me Project (pictured left).

Another student who has demonstrated an exemplary level of leadership for the March 25th event,  told me she was put in crown ward (A crown ward is someone, in this case a child, placed under protection of a legal guardian and are the legal responsibility of the government) at the age of 12. She went on to become a mother of 3 and is currently raising them on her own while completing her Social Service Worker diploma at Centennial.

She told me she “has to do this.” After watching the film she has so many actionable ideas she is already doing on her own accord. Her story and many others has opened the door for other students to share their own story to further develop their passion with a purpose. Executing this initiative with students and staff has allowed students to see the power of their own voice and to be an active agent of social change. 

I am beyond thrilled of how this initiative has evolved to the level of engagement it currently at. I cannot WAIT for the event on Monday to see all these students shine and inspire a call to action for the single most important issue of our time: the empowerment of girls and women.

What are you doing about it?

Halfthesky.org

Yasmin Razack is currently the Manager of Global Citizenship and Equity Education at Centennial College. She is also Personal + Professional Life Coach who works with women in transition to unlock their limitless potential in all aspects of life. For more information please visit limitlesswomen.ca or email her at yasmin@limitlesswomen.ca.