Welcome to the Girls Educationa International Blog and Website. Heidi Wirtz and I (Lizzy Scully) spent six weeks in the Northern Areas of Pakistan summer of 2006 attempting to climb the Ogre's Thumb. Because of accidents, bad weather, and sickness we didn't succeed in climbing the wall. However, we did spend a few weeks with the people of the village Khane, Hushe Valley, Baltistan, Pakistan. We met and hung out with the family of Ghulam Abbas, our trekking guide, and we got to know the people fairly well in a short period of time. We discovered that they were genuine, friendly, fun-loving, and completely open and generous. Because we had such an amazing experience we decided that we wanted to help the people of the village. The first project of Girls Education International will be to renovate and hire a teacher for the girls' school in Khane.
We found while we were there that the Khane girls' school was in poor condition, especially compared to the boys' school. We found piles of poop in the schoolyard, furniture of poor quality, school supplies that were old and torn, and a teacher with barely any education herself. Because Pakistan is a Muslim country, boys have traditionally been valued more highly. However, the people of Pakistan are becoming increasingly aware of the fact that when girls are also educated, communities thrive. Thus, the villagers welcome the chance for change, and they are very excited to be able to educate all their children.
Our plan is to provide the school with a more well-educated teacher, to renovate and clean up the school and school yard, to plant a new and better garden, to buy new school supplies, to hire someone to clean the school weekly, and to create a scholarship program for one girl to eventually go to college to become a teacher herself and return to the village to teach.
First things first though; we need to come up with $500 just to apply for 501(c)3 status with the IRS. So far, we have registered the non-profit with the state of Colorado, and we have an EIN number. I'm currently working on a budget plan and trying to find a board of directors. Please help us get started and make a donation to Girls Education International Organization, PO Box 2383, Estes Park, CO 80517. You can email lizzy@shesends.com for more information.
From this point on I will be posting each significant thing that we do with Girls Ed International to this blog. I hope to help and inspire other people to start non-profits. I'm sure this will be a challenging endeavor, but I'm looking forward to the project!
