Rescuing a Child Bride Transformed Her Life & Will Transform Yours
Lynda Dell, “CopyMagic”
Digital Content Strategist| B2B Persuasive Storyteller| Turn complex ideas into clear, compelling stories with content that connects, cares, and changes lives|K-20, EdTech, Learning, WellnessTech
Don’t you wish with all your heart that YOU could make a difference!
?We are living in a time of unrest, uncertainty, and chaos. We are divided in so many ways.
Living on the brink of disaster and war…
But we can still make a BIG difference. We can still make a BIG impact.
YOU could be a beacon of light. YOU could create a RIPPLE EFFECT that becomes a wave of opportunity.
YOU can make a HUGE difference in the life a child today!
?What if you could start a RIPPLE EFFECT that could touch a girl’s heart and transform her life forever? A girl, your daughter’s age, who lives oceans apart from us in a small village in Zimbabwe.
?Well, YOU can...
?Bongai Mhloyi makes a BIG difference for at-risk Zimbabwean girls. And so can YOU!
Heart-centered, humanitarian artist Lori felt introduced me to this remarkable woman, an immigrant from Zimbabwe, a modern-day Mother Theresa. She cares about others before she thinks of herself and her own needs.
?So, why has she dedicated her life to saving Zimbabwean girls from being forced into early marriages?
She grew up in Zimbabwe where she first met and rescued a child bride at a young and tender age.
Can you imagine being so poor and desperate that you had to sell your daughter to a wealthy old man, just so the rest of your family could survive?
?In this poor community in Zimbabwe, families just like yours struggle to take care of their children. It’s still culturally acceptable to marry off your daughters once they hit puberty. That shifts the financial burden of caring for your daughter to her husband.
“These girls don’t have an education, don't have any skills, so they are forced to stay with old men,” Mhloyi explains. “Most likely these men will die off leaving these girls to raise the children themselves.”
This Zimbabwe native didn’t wait for someone else to do what God put on her heart.
?She was 12 the first time she rescued a child bride. And it transformed her life…
One day a young girl came to her grandparent’s home. Mhloyi and her sister had no idea who she was. And they kept prying their mom with questions.
?“Who is this girl who came to our grandfather’s house?”
?“She is his wife. She's your grandmother now,” our mom said.
?“But we are the same age, how could that be?”
“The girl’s father sold her to your grandfather in exchange for 10 cows.”
?Can you imagine how terrifying it would be for a 12-year-old to be told you need to sleep with a 75-year-old man?
Even today in the United States in Virginia, there are girls forced into an early marriage, when they are mere children.
?Every year 15 million girls become child brides, according to worldschildren.org.
Mhloyi has the solution: Education is central to her plan.
?
Her mission began 10 years ago when her childhood friend Rashai Sibambo began the Girl Empowerment Movement (GEM) and asked for help.
When the cause ran deeper than their pockets, Mhloyi began the 501?3 nonprofit the American African Youth Leadership Foundation (AAYLF) to End Child Marriages.
领英推荐
Growing up Mhloyi has been fortunate to have all her basic needs met. Her mom and dad instilled in all their children the value of education.
She fell in love, got married, and came to America to get her degree in Social Relations and her Master’s in Special Education.
She has been a social worker for more than 20 years in the two Pennsylvania counties, Chester, and Lancaster County.
Giving back to her community
After finishing college, Mhloyi began helping family members and friends back in Zimbabwe. She knew they were struggling to send their children to school.?She knows firsthand how education can lift girls out of poverty.?
?This powerhouse has shown us that one person can truly make a difference.
?That one person could be YOU!
?YOU can make a difference!
YOU can cause a RIPPLE EFFECT around the world!
?Because once you learn about AAYLF, I’m certain that you will want to
share her mission with everyone you, every mom you know.?
YOU can create a RIPPLE EFFECT.
Here's how you could create a RIPPLE EFFECT---a wave of opportunity in the life of one girl:
??#1 Join our mission and please nominate AAYLF for the Women’s Business Connection. Here’s a link to the form:?Nominate A Community Partner - Women's Business Connection (wbcchesco.com)
Imagine if YOU, and all the other readers, nominated AAYLF...
Do you see how becoming a Community Partner will impact her girls?
?#2 Join us and register TODAY for AAYLF's International Women’s Day Summit to “Awaken Your Inner Power” Here’s the link with the details: Awaken Your Inner Power (endchildmarriages.org)
AAYLF is hosting this life changing virtual event. Our speakers will inspire, empower, and transform you. And your small $25 ticket purchase?will transform the life of an at-risk girl, and forever change her family and community.
?
?YOU can be a Grateful Rippler too!
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
CEO/Founder: End Child Marriages at End Child Marriages
2 年Wow. Those are huge shoes to fill. To be compared with Mother Theresa is an honor. But we can all be part of this “Ripple Effect” and change a vulnerable girl’s life. Read this article, like it, comment and share. That will make a difference and if you join the Rippler Effect community, it will even make a bigger difference.