On the morning of Tuesday, February 23rd, my group and I sat down on zoom with a bunch of girls our age from the AARTI home. The AARTI home instills a few main values in their students that really stuck out to us, including, the values of Integrity, Compassion and Empathy.

At the ARTTI home the children are provided love, and their broad range of insecurities addressed. Children grow with the security of shelter, food, health care in community based living. Children get an education at the appropriate age, have an opportunity to dream and are guided towards a secure, definite future.

These girls are currently in India, and when we talked with them it was 8pm. It was an extraordinary experience. The main activity we had planned was surrounding food. They showed us how to make an Indian dish called Dosa, and we showed them how to make a sandwich. We also shared and spoke about our interests, favorite food, what we want to be when we grow up, and what subjects in school we enjoy.

We steered clear of topics surrounding family, religion, and marriage. we were told that those topics are sensitive to the girls, which is understandable. It was interesting to hear what the girls enjoyed doing. I learned that they enjoyed the show Wednesday, and many of them love K-POP groups like blackPink and BTS.

Talking with girls our age gave us an entirely new perspective, one that we needed to gain a full understanding of this topic. The girls we spoke to were so eager to hear us talk about our lives, and we felt the same way toward them.

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On February 15th, My group mates and I sat down with Zoe Timms to talk about girls in India who are currently being restricted from attending school. Zoe Timms attended Wisconsin university. While sitting in one of her classes a professor asked if anyone would like to study abroad in India. She raised her hand impulsively, and that one decision altered her life.

founded in 2002, Women Education Project has the fundamental belief that the decisions made by a self-reliant, informed, and skilled woman effect lasting positive changes in her life, her family, her community and society as a whole. By getting an education, Women’s Education Project teaches these girls what it truly means to have multiple babies and get married at a young age, and how they don’t have to follow their families wishes.

We also heard a personal story. in the late 90’s, when Zoe was 20 years old, she taught English to young Indian girls at a local school. When her class was over she would dismiss the girls to their next class which was karate. One day, she dismissed the class but one girl stayed behind. When Zoe asked why she wasn’t with the rest of the girls, the young girl pointed down to her leg. She had polio. Zoe felt badly and was extremely apologetic. A few days later, teaching the same class, she dismissed them and the girl with polio went to her next class. After Karate was over she went running up to Zoe and was overjoyed because had tried. That’s when Zoe saw her dedicated and hardworking all of these girls are, and how they deserve so much more than what the have.

Also with Zoe Timms, we set up a zoom call we are going to have with girls our age who are living in India, living the reality. Zoe Timms told us about how home life can be a sensitive topic, and how they come from extremely conservative backgrounds.

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We met with Ashley Steimer via Google Meet on Thursday, January 19th. Ashley Steimer is a part of Girls Learn international which is a group that empowers middle schoolers and highschoolers to advocate for human rights, equity, and universal access to education in both the U.S and all around the world.

She gave us a personal story about a young girl from Kenya who came to the United Nations and spoke before many leaders about her struggle

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On January fourth my group sat down with Sarah Symmons about her involvement in HFC. She talked to us about how she quit her job in the early 2000s to dedicate her time to starting a girls education rights group.

HFC stands for Her Future Coalition. Since 2005 Her Future has been creating powerful and positive change in the lives of survivors of gender violence and girls at the highest risk.

She shared some of her personal stories, how her mindset has changed, and HFC’s various volunteers programs.

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