Update Direct From Stella's Girls 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

I could never say it better than Mafanta herself, so here are links to her updates on the SGBV crisis in the paper, The Bush Chicken within the last week.  Here they are:

​Gov’t Opens National Conference on SGBV September 9th, 2020.

Recommendations from National SGBV Conference Finalized September 11th, 2020

President Weah Proclaims Rape a National Emergency September 13th, 2020

Nothing compares when women encourage and pick other women off the ground. There may be a long road ahead, but the solidarity of the women in Liberia leading this change is inspiring. I look forward to seeing the progress of empowered girls and women there.

To help other women to become leaders and, in turn, teach them to lead others is a core value for Stella's Girls. Your generosity could help a girl go to school, have more opportunities, and to become a leader herself. A gift to Stella's Girls could even save a young woman's life from infection. Please donate to better the lives of girls and young women around the world.