Dear Friends,
Happy New Year to you and yours! We hope that this new year finds you safe, healthy and in peace.
2020 was quite a painful and challenging year for all of us as the pandemic brought the world to its knees, and the Black Lives Matter movement mobilized droves of multicultural stakeholders in the U.S. and internationally to protest against police violence and systemic racial inequalities.
As a team, we discussed the timing of our project’s relaunching in the midst of this turmoil. Patriarchy and racism being interwoven threads of injustice and inequality, we decided to launch our second reading journey in October on International Day of the Girl Child.
So much has happened since then. We are excited to share some exciting news with you.
The Reading Journey
The Girl Child & Her Long Walk to Freedom is a joint project of the Imago Dei Fund, a U.S.-based foundation focusing on universal justice and gender equality, and the Institute for Faith and Gender Empowerment, a Kenya-based organization working on gender justice. It launched in 2018 with a mission of bringing a contemplative and historic awareness to the intersection of faith and gender inequality and helping people “put faith to work through love,” to transform the deep roots under patriarchy.
Our second reading journey is composed of over 130 people from 17 different countries — a truly global endeavor! It’s been wonderful to be in conversations and reflection with such multicultural and inspiring community leaders, stakeholders and change agents.
The Girl Child Video and Its Translations and Cultural Adaptation
As we launched our short, animated explainer video on the history of patriarchy and spoke to our community partners, we heard about and responded to communities’ needs for the Girl Child to speak their language. With the support and collaboration of leaders and organizations around the world, we have been working on a number of translations (Hausa, French, Burmese and Oromo) — a very exciting endeavor!
The Girl Child Video Is Now Available in Kiswahili
Thanks to the work and leadership of Pamela Shao, Director of UNICEF’s Chief Field Office in Tanzania, the Girl Child video is now – is now available in Kiswahili. You may view it here.
Pamela also shared the powerful story of how the video is being received by the women and girls she works with in Tanzania, which you can read on our blog. Please don’t hesitate to use and share these resources with your network.
An Extended Video on Patriarchy is Also Available
In collaboration with Development Associates International, we produced an extended video about patriarchy that features the story of Rebecca. This is a Christian-inspired video designed to be part of DAI’s course “Women and Men Leading Together” and also as a Christian sequel to our first Girl Child “explainer” video, Understanding Our History of Patriarchy: What’s Faith Got to Do with It?, which traces the historical origins of patriarchy and invites viewers to cultivate curiosity to put faith to work through love to co-create a better, more just and free world for girls like Rebecca to grow up in.
Some Inspirational Blog Posts
Last but not least, please do explore and read a range of stories on the Girl Child Long Walk blog, recognizing key moments for girls and women, over the past year.
As we move forward with faith and confidence to support and work with girls and women around the world through our projects and initiatives, we hope that you will continue to engage in our programs and partner with us through collaborative work of light, faith, healing and social justice.
Warmest regards,
The Girl Child Team
