Our Time is Now, our rights, our future

Our Time is Now, Our rights, Our future: International Day of The girl Child 2022

The International Day of the Girl Child 2022. SaGG Foundation joins the rest of the world to observe the day, celebrated every year on October 11th.

​This year marks the 10th anniversary since the declaration by the United Nations. The purpose of the observance of the day of the girl child, is to create global awareness in all areas that affect the lives of girls. Even though significant progress has been made over the years in raising awareness and enacting laws to promote gender equality. That noted, girls continue to face inequality in all areas of society, notably discrimination in education, access to medical health, proper nutrition, child labour, and protection against sexual and gender-based violence. 

The celebration of the International Day of the Girl Child has led to the emergence of global, regional, and community voices of girls and young female leaders who passionately campaign for progressive laws, programmes, and policies to defend and uphold the rights of the girl child. Hence, the theme for this year aptly reflects, that Our Time is Now, our rights, our future. 

The SaGG Foundation girls are pleased to share with you, why their time is Now! Read the poems and essays to find out more.

Poem by Jestina

1. For so long, we have followed, for so long endured, relegated from creation where ever man exists.

2. How long shall we follow, how long shall we endure, consenting with silence, our well springs quell.

 3.  Our time is now, our rights, our future, everything has a season, and for every purpose, a time.

4. From followers to leaders, from leaders to borrowers, from receiving to giving, unleashing our potential, demonstrating. YES! WE CAN! By Jestina.

Poem by Fatou 

​Let us stop all violations against girls.

Work for the common interest of girls for a better society.

Our time is now. Then allow girls to celebrate and protect their rights.

Our time is now! And the future is also our right!

Make hay while it's sunny. Our right is now and in our future!

October 11th is celebrated because our rights are our future, which signifies our freedom of mind to show dignity and justify our rights.

Girl child! Shine like a star in the sky. It is your right!

Poem by Arret

Girls, Girls; Mothers of tomorrow.
Girls; Pillars of tomorrow.
Girls, the backbone of tomorrow
So girls must be respected, protected, and also have the right to be educated.

Girls must have the right to fight for what they want.
Girls must be treated equally like boys are in every society.
Girls must be given the right to freedom of speech.
Girls must be treated decently so that there will be decent mothers for the future generation.
​
Girls are wonderful.
Start her up with school and she will end up in a tower of power.
Give her education and she'll bring you honor and favor.
The killing of girls is a killing of the future generation and the nation.
​
Education is the light at the end of a tunnel, which without girls is a problem.
Therefore, girls must have the right to be educated, to be respected and protected.
OUR TIME, OUR RIGHT, OUR FUTURE!

Poem by Elizabeth

No time to waste, but a future to make. 
Our Right Our Future!
We are the roots of this nation. 
Hard work is our obligation. 
Hard work pays off. 
We are not a waste of space!

Dear gril child, fight to rise from your ashes. 
And let us not fall like splashes.
A girl with a mind and a voice.
It has the power to change the world. 
Our magic is unwritten. 
But when the sea turns.
We leave our shape behind. 
Let no one steal our dreams. 
Let our voice be heard!
​
With our rights to guide us.
To mold and shape our future. 
We are the treasures of the world.
And a good potential we hold.
Our aim is not to cause commotion. 
But to fight and build a greater nation.
​OUR TIME, OUR RIGHT, OUR FUTURE!

Essay by Barakatou 

Investments in girls' education and rights remain limited, and girls continue to confront a myriad of challenges to fulfilling their potential, made worse by the concurrent crises of climate change, COVID-19, and humanitarian conflict. Girls around the world continue to face unprecedented challenges to their education, their physical and mental wellness, and the protection needed for a life without violence. 

With adversity, however, comes resourcefulness, creativity, tenacity, and resilience. The world's 600 million girls have shown that, given the skills and the opportunities, they can be the change makers driving progress in their communities, building a stronger future for all, including women, boys, and men.

International Day of the Girl Child arrives this year at an important and evolving moment in time, as girls' rights and gender equality are resurging in the public consciousness and dialogue in new, powerful, and long-overdue ways.

While attention and conversation are welcome, at the same time, girls and women everywhere continue to endure significant challenges. A range of legal, social, health, and safety challenges and their consequences, while often not widely recognized or understood, nonetheless have a highly and highly negative impact on girls and women, their families, and communities. Complications from pregnancy and childbirth are still a leading cause of death among girls in developing countries.

According to recent statistics, 131 million girls are not in school. Globally, women perform 2.6 times more unpaid care and domestic work than men. Globally, about one in three women has experienced violence. And 214 million women have an unmet need for modern contraception.

While these trends may seem overwhelming, they don’t have to be permanent. Inequality, discrimination, and injustice sustain these problems; rights, empowerment, and better social norms can fix them.
Under the theme, "Our Time is Now, Our Rights, Our Future: Rural and urban activists transforming women’s lives,” UN Women is urging the global community “to transform the momentum into action, to empower women in all settings, rural and urban, and to celebrate the activists who are working relentlessly to claim women’s rights and realize their full potential.

Addressing the rights and needs of girls and women everywhere has always been and will continue to be a key part of our work because it is a human rights imperative.

When a girl is safe, healthy, educated, and empowered, she creates the future she wants and a ripple effect, advancing healthier and more prosperous communities, societies, and economies.

Peom by Bertha

​To the whole universe,
I want to walk, I want to run,
In the street, from corner to corner without any fear of girl child abuse.
I am a girl child.
I must be your joy!

I want to fly, fly higher to the sky.
With the wings of liberty.
Because I am a girl child. 
A treasure to one’s family. 
A moral strength to the family.
The future of every nation.

I am not only a treasure, but equal to ten sons.
I know am brave, just give me the courage, for lucky are those parents who are gifted with a girl child.
Who is a bundle of joy and a ray of hope?

Artwork by Fatoumata

Poem by Fatima

When yesterday is gone, tomorrow is near.

Now there is the bear of the feet on the floor. 

It's to go with the floor.

Now is our time to use our voice and change the world

See a wise fool once said
"Start her up with school. She'll end up in tower and power.

Give them to the teachers; they'll show them the light and right.

Let her go to school,she will come home lawyer and engineer "

It's our time to stand firmly on the ground 

It's our time to use our voices, and our future depends on us.

Why look for something when it's already here? ​Our Time is Now, our Rights, our Future.

Poem by Michelle

Our time is now,

Life is a journey, always going forward, never going back. 

To live a life, you must want to live it.

You must find a way to live if you want to.

When all hope is lost, you must be strong and determined.

When all others relax, you must speed up.

Our rights,
You are the conscience inside your head.

You create your destiny.

Life can be a hard thing to keep.

When your life does not always go the way you plan.

Fight for your life and the right to keep dreaming.

If you feel you are gifted, share your gift.

Our future,
As you get older, life comes with challenges.

• Who are you?
• What do you want in life?
• What will you be?
• What is your purpose in life?

If you worry, these things will turn into burdens. But if you hold onto them in the back of your mind, all of the answers will come in time.

"Life is a counsel, always going forward, never going back."

Look to the future, not to the past, and victory will be yours.

Essay by Fatou

There was a time when society thought that it was not necessary to educate girls.  During earlier times, there was a distinct division between public and private life.  Women were not allowed in the public sphere because they were not meant to take part in it. Since historic times, girls have been the subject of neglect, torture, and other horrific activities that cannot be ignored.  Now we have begun to realize that girls’ education is essential.  The modern age is the age of the awakening of women. 
Education for girls is important for bringing a balance to society. 
  
Our time is now! Girls' education has brought equality in society by bridging the gap of gender inequality. 

Education can make girls self-reliant, which society used to think was a burden.  Female education is the overarching term of a complex set of issues and debates surrounding education (primary, secondary, tertiary, university, and health education in particular) for girls and women.  The education of women and girls is an important connection to the alleviation of poverty.  Improving girls’ educational levels has been demonstrated to have clear impacts on the health and economic future of young women, which in turn improves the prospects of their entire community.
​
Therefore, our right to education is a must and should be valued by every society, no matter what ethnic group we might find ourselves in.  Educating a girl helps her to share the responsibility of her family and reduces the burden of the head of the family, and can also help uproot social ills, such as early child marriage, honor killing, dowry payment, domestic violence, child labour and female genital mutilation.

Educated women are less likely to become victims of such improper acts.  An educated woman always receives dignity and respect and remains a source of inspiration for other women and girls.

Most importantly, our future is bright with education.  It improves the overall quality of a girl’s life with critical thinking and enhances learning.  Subsequently, it helps a child make a better and more informed decision with the use of their knowledge.  Female education is the need of the hour. With that being said, it also gives career opportunities that can increase the quality of life. However, education remains a luxury and not a necessity in our country.  

In conclusion, educating the girl child is very important for the development of a nation.  In The Gambia, half of the population is made up of women.  We cannot prosper by ignoring this half of the population because female education is essential for the betterment of our country.  Not only can a woman do everything that a man can, but also, if we become educated, we can participate in all kinds of work, and by doing this, a nation can prosper.  Every society should learn to respect girls and women first because this is "Our Time, our rights, our future."

Your Feeback is welcomed

Thank you for visiting our blog site and for reading the poems and essays written by our girls. We hope you have been inspired and enlightened about why girls should be empowered to claim their rights. Girls' rights should be everyone's business.

Our girls would appreciate hearing from you. Use the comments section below to share your feedback, reviews, and reactions. We want to hear from you. Thank you!

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