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Plan Your Story – Because I am a Girl
Your birth certificate. Just a piece of paper?
Not really, think of all the things you wouldn’t have been able to achieve in your life without it. You couldn’t get a passport, or driving licence, your parents wouldn’t have been able to claim family allowance, you couldn’t have gone to school, college, university. How would that affect your life now?
Millions of girls across the world have never had their births registered.
Because of this they are often denied access to education, they cannot prove their age and so are forced into childhood marriage. Their whole future is altered – the impact of a piece of paper.
The Plan have created an app that highlights the impact of this using your own details on Facebook. it’s a moving piece that highlights how your life could have been different – at age 14 I was dreaming of those who were plastered across my bedroom wall, in another culture I could have been preparing for my wedding to a stranger.
Visit this site to see how your life could have panned out
Plan your Story is part of The Plan’s Because I am a Girl campaign – here is what they say:
At least 75 million girls around the world are not in school. This isn’t fair. Ignoring it isn’t smart.
Investing in a girl’s education is vital – it helps her to know she has rights, exercise them when she needs to and achieve her potential.
It is also central to unlocking the cycle of poverty.
- An educated girl is less likely to marry and to have children whilst she is still a child.
- An educated girl is more likely to be literate, healthy and survive into adulthood, as are her children.
- An educated girl is more likely to reinvest her income back into her family, community and country.
Plan UK’s Because I am a Girl campaign aims to ensure girls in the world’s poorest countries can access a quality education. This will in turn move people from a life of poverty to a future with opportunity.
Everyone has a role to play, including boys and men.
How would my life have been different?
Aside from education and how that has impacted my career, one of the biggest impacts not having a birth certificate would have had is not being able to play football. You had to prove you were over 14 to play in the league. Being part of a team taught me many social skills, it gave me a passion, enabled me to help others through coaching. If it weren’t for football I would never have met my husband and started our family. That is a massive impact!
What can I do?
Spread the word. Create your Story and then blog about how your life would be different now if your birth hadn’t been registered or you hadn’t had access to education. Donate, if you can. If you can’t, tell others about it – they may be able to.
I have never started a meme before, and I am aware that there are many out there spreading equally deserving messages. There are no rules with this other than to spread the word about Because I am a Girl, tweet about it, blog about it, share it to Facebook. Tag as many people as you like and ask them to link to their post below so we can read them all. For more information look here
I’m going to tag some of the wonderful people who took part in NaBloPoMo with me – I hope some of them will find time to help. If you are not tagged but want to join in then please do! Just link up at the bottom 
thanks for tag – worthwhile campagian. I will get my act together. xx