JOIN US DECEMBER 17 TO CELEBRATE THE SUCCESSFUL LAUNCH OF GIRL POWER PROJECT® IN INDIA

After 13 years of working with children and families in Uganda, to keep girls in school, while avoiding forced child marriage, violence and disease, join us as Girl Power Project® has expanded to INDIA to ensure girls there are empowered to Transform the World. In 2022, our pilot program was completed in Rishikesh, India where 333 girls who went through the program now understand the value and importance of staying in school, how to protect themselves from gender-based violence, disease, early pregnancy and how to fend off forced-child marriages.

Why India?

• 120 Million Girls:  India is home to 1.3 billion people, and it has the largest adolescent population in the world, 253 million between the age of 10 to 19 years and almost half of whom are girls.

• India has the highest number of child brides in the world.   

• Child brides are more likely to drop out of school, experience violence and live in poverty. About 43% (an estimated 52 million) girls drop out before completing secondary education due to household responsibilities, marriage, child labour, limited relevance of education for employment and employability, distance to school and/or lack of sanitation facilities at the school.

• "That time of the month" is intolerable. Only 1/2 of schools in India have toilets for girls, making menstruation for girls highly embarrassing and impossible to navigate, so girls drop out of school. At least 42% of girls in India use cloth rather than disposable sanitary napkins.

• Gender-based violence. In India, a woman is raped every 15 minutes. Over 70% of rape perpetrators go free without conviction or punishment. The true extent of the sexual violence against women and girls in India is thought to be far greater than the figures show.

• Girl child infanticide. Today, around 140 million women are believed to be "missing" around the world – the result of son preference, including gender-biased sex selection. Female infanticide is the selected killing of a newborn female child or the termination of a female fetus through sex-selective abortion. In India, there is incentive to have a son, because they are perceived to offer security to the family in old age and are able to conduct rituals for deceased parents and ancestors. In contrast, daughters are considered to be a social and economic burden. Modern medical technology has allowed for the sex of a child to be determined while the child is still a fetus. The Pew Research Centre estimated as many as 9 million females missing from the Indian population in the period 2000-2019 according to Indian government data. 

Every year, millions of girls are subjected to practices that harm them physically and emotionally, with the full knowledge and consent of their families, friends and communities. It’s clear that the most dangerous thing you can do in India is to be born female.

That’s why we are thrilled that the Girl Power Project will help girls, starting in local communities, and then more broadly, to navigate these challenges.

Your attendance at our Bollywood Holiday Celebration will directly empower girls and protect them from violence in India through the expansion of Girl Power Project®. Learn more about your impact at JustLikeMyChild.org.

HELP US MAKE ARIELLE'S BIRTHDAY WISH COME TRUE!

This year I am going to be 70 years old.
It’s a reality.
It’s a number.
It’s also fun to have reached a stage in my life where I no longer care what anybody thinks about me and I can just totally be me.
I have gray hair, I weigh 144 pounds, I’ve shrunk down to 5’ 7” and my short-term memory is like Swiss cheese.
And I feel healthier and happier than I ever imagined possible.
Today I have given myself permission to boldly ask for what I want for my birthday.

My wish is to raise $70,000 to expand Girl Power Project® in India to help hundreds of teen girls there. Through this proven program, they will discover how to avoid early marriage, stay in school, protect their bodies from all kinds of abuse, create the career of their dreams and so much more. I was a founding board member of Just Like My Child and have been supportive of Girl Power Project for many years. It has a proven track record of success in 90 communities in Uganda and it was recently highlighted for its impact and efficacy in the Journal of Universality of Global Education Issues. Please join us on December 17 to celebrate my birthday and the programs success in person. If you feel so inclined and have the means to do so, I will be most grateful for your support.

Wishing you love, laughter and magical kisses,
Arielle Ford

CELEBRATING PUBLICATION OF "FOR MY SISTER" -- A TRAGIC AND TRIUMPHANT NOVEL  ABOUT SEX TRAFFICKING OF GIRLS IN INDIA

Puja Shah, a long time supporter of The Girl Power Project will share how the work of Just Like My Child inspired her to write her debut novel “For My Sister.” For My Sister, is a thoughtfully researched and captivating story that highlights injustices endured by young girls due to human trafficking. Beautiful storytelling weaves together haunting poetry and riveting prose while illuminating the unbreakable bonds of sisterhood. #ForMySisterBook is a journey of light and dark with Amla and Asya: twin sisters trafficked into India’s notorious Sonagachi district. Can the power of poetry, mindfulness, and sisterly love bring them back home and to each other?

All attendees of the Bollywood Celebration will receive a signed copy of Puja's novel!

PANKHURI SEHGAL, JOINING US LIVE FROM INDIA!

Hear directly from the passionate driver of Girl Power Project in India, herself! India's Girl Power Project® facilitator, Pankhuri Sehgal will be joining us live from India to share why she believes that the program is the most comprehensive and applicable girls empowerment tool in India and why she is passi0nate to expand Girl Power into every population center in India! Pankhuri has been critical in working with key stakeholders in India to tailor the program content, language, and delivery for cultural relevance and appropriateness.

Pankhuri has been working in the non-profit sector for over eight years and has complimented that experience with her academic background in Psychology, English Literature and Women Studies. Learn More about Pankhuri’s extraordinary background.

We are so excited to continue working with her as she leads the expansion of the Girl Power Project into 5 schools within her home turf of Meerut city in Uttar Pradesh where girls are especially vulnerable. Her strong rapport with the network of educators and schools in the city will help to ensure the program’s success.

JOIN US DECEMBER 17 TO EAT YUMMY INDIAN FARE AND GET READY FOR SOME BOLLYWOOD DANCING!

ABOUT JUST LIKE MY CHILD FOUNDATION

The longest journey begins with a single step. Sixteen years ago, Vivian Glyck had a desire to help a group of Ugandan nuns in East Africa who were trying to run a hospital without electricity or running water. Together with a massive community of individuals who carried the flame of that vision, that first step evolved into Just Like My Child’s Girl Power Project®, a highly successful organization and program in Uganda providing over 20,000 adolescent girls with the tools to stay in school, avoid forced child marriage, disease, pregnancy and to live the life of their dreams. The program has been scientifically proven to change the future for girls. 

With the massive issues facing adolescent girls around the world, Just Like My Child knew that Girl Power Project® could benefit the more than 100 million young girls throughout the subcontinent of India who are tremendously vulnerable and at extreme risk.

In 2021, a successful pilot of Girl Power Project® was launched in Rishikesh, India, with documented shifts in girls’ knowledge of how to protect themselves from violence, forced child marriage, disease, and the will to enforce their right to stay in school and live their fullest potential. 

The collective vision of all of us who are inspired by these shifts, is to scale this program in India so that such a well designed curriculum with an empowering framework and approach is made available to every adolescent girl in India who feels there is no way out for her. 

For this year, the plan is to start with Meerut city in Uttar Pradesh which is around 65 kms from the capital, Delhi. Uttar Pradesh ranks 29th on the women empowerment index where ranking 1 is for the most empowered state and 31 is the least empowered. (Meerut is the hometown of Phankhuri Sehgal, our Girl Power Project certified facilitator in India. Her strong rapport with the network of educators and schools in the city ensure the program’s success.)

Support ten girls through Girl Power Project India.

$1000 per ticket PLATINUM VIP SPONSOR

LOCATION:

AT THE PRIVATE HOME OF LISA SASEVICH

La Jolla, CA 92037