Gender-Based Violence (GBV), also known as Sexual and Gender Based Violence, is a function of patriarchy and millennia of socialization in cultures worldwide. GBV serves to keep the "lesser genders" in a place of subservience and fear. It is pervasive. It is global.

-Jamie Griffin

This is Mariama, the Executive Director of Stella's Girls Liberia. Mariama has a Call to Action for all women and allies about what the Stella's Girls Liberia is doing to help and lead young women to a better future in Liberia.

A few weeks ago, on this blog, you found out about the depraved and gruesome rapes happening in Liberia. From April (when COVID was declared a National Emergency) to June this year, there were over 600 rapes, with a rate that was still climbing. Those numbers themselves are staggering, but the rape-culture there is so pervasive that most victims are children and very young women. Starting in June, horrific reports were made about men brutally attacking toddlers. It was then that women and men in Liberia empowered themselves to stage a peaceful protest from August 27th to 29th at the seat of the Capitol in Monrovia. There, rape is feared more than the pandemic raging against the world. It is a realistic fear.

Please, educate yourself about rape in Liberia and the leaders that stood against it in my previous posts on rape and the subsequent protest on this blog. The person you should hear the details of what came after is the Stella's Girls journalist Mafanta Kromah. Mafanta (pictured at right) writes for the Liberian paper, The Bush Chicken. She, Mariama Konneh, who is our Executive Director in Liberia and Stella's Girls were on the ground at the protest.

​Literacy is imperative for everyday life. It is necessary to navigate the world. To make informed decisions, fill out a job application, and decipher the constant and broad range of information you receive each day, you need to read. Endless and clashing stories from the news and through friends are confusing and overwhelming. Doing research on your own and educating yourself on the truth is to become free from other people’s opinions. Your own, educated opinion becomes clear. Your Self is empowered. There is no depth of learning without being able to read.