Faces of Peace at Inaugural International Day of the Girl Child; UN Headquarters

We as Faces of Peace Kenya felt honored to be invited to take part in the first ever Iternational Day of the Girl Child, 11, October , 2012 at UN, Gigiri.

 What challenges faces the girl child? What can be done to alleviate these? What is the African position on MDGs, more so Goal 5? These are some of the issues that came out during the Inaugural International Day of the Girl Child at UN Headquarters at Gigiri , Nairobi,  11 October , 2012.

UN Staff on why girls must work hard to make it, Int'l Girl Child Day, 2012, Nairobi

It was great honor for Faces of Peace Kenya to be invited to this first event of its kind . the guests of the day, young Kenyans from UPEED organization in Banana Kiambu, told their stories that captivated the audience.

The organization of young girls carries out girl child empowerment initiatives in their small way. They have ‘a chama’, an informal saving schemes where they do small savings. This is a good move since the financial inclusion in Kenya , coupled with poor credit rationing, despite the emergence of agency banking, has been very limited. 

The group also has a football initiative, Hopes Soccer Sisters Football Club. Through sports, they are able  to rally the young girls and pass crucial information on health education and life skills.

When asked about the day, their leaders asked for need for genuine involvement of youth  from the grassroots , in all spheres of development.

And we toured the UN Complex freely with friendly guides 

And admired the works of Prof. Wangari (RIP) the village girl whom became a world champion through little things:

 UPEED Girls at tree planted at UN by Prof. Wangari (RIP) in 2004

There were also presentations about UNFPA, Tunza, UNIC, and a billion tree campaigns.  UNFPA according to the youth officer, Baluda, involves the youth through policy making, trainings, life skill education, and advocacy. 

The most inspiring talk came from Linda of Ghetto Radio. According to Linda girls have to dream and dream, “never stop dreaming even if you will achieve what you want at 90”. She talked of a tweet she read in the morning that: “if all presidents were women, there would be no war”.

Faces of Peace asked for need to focus on girls in rural and slum areas and also to mentor them during holidays. 

From the personal testimonies of the UN staff, the ladies who made it against all odds, it was evident that girls need to work hard and not settle for less.

According to Linda of Ghetto FM “what a man can do, a woman can perfect” . Happy International Day of the Girl Child, 11, October , 2012.