Women's History Month

We are now nearly two full weeks into Women's History Month, and reflecting on all of the incredible women who have shaped America's story makes me proud to be an American woman. Women, both young and old, living in America have been blessed with so many opportunities that allow them to thrive and make their everlasting mark on history. Even during times of segregation and oppression, women could still rise up, have their voices heard, and ultimately change the course of history.

While opportunities and privileges afforded to American woman makes me proud of our rich history and hopeful for what is to come, this realization also saddens me. I feel this sadness is for all of the oppressed and marginalized girls and women I met during my travels to Africa and Eastern Europe, women who are desperate for opportunity. The reality is that because many of these women live in circumstances that prevent them from using and cultivating their innate talents, they will not be able to make their own mark on history and better the world. No human being, man or woman, deserves to fade away without the opportunity to make their mark on society.

As we are now a decade into the 21st century, cruel, unjust, and often times unspeakable practices directed towards females in Africa should be a thing of the past. These girls deserve to grow up to be the nurturers, teachers, entrepreneurs, and political leaders, they dream of being. They deserve to be able to live in peace, without fear, and see prosperity in their communities. Girls and women living in Eastern Europe deserve to have cultural opportunities to expand their global mindset and continue to crush the failed policies of communism and marginalization of those who are different. Both of these groups of women and girls deserve to live free from the omnipresent threat of being sold into prostitution or slavery.

I want these women to be able to stand up and take their place in history -- to be the next Rosa Parks, Sandra Day O'Connor, Muriel Siebert, Barbara Walters, etc.

Disaster Relief in Haiti

As I'm sure you have all been hearing and reading in the news, Haiti is currently in a catastrophic state after the earthquake. A disaster of this nature will have lasting affects on such a poor country. Haiti needs our help now more than ever.

One of Foundation SCA's partner's, Fundacion Bacardi, has been working in Haiti to help educate girls and expand the elementary schools. Their efforts are now being shifted after the earthquake destroyed their schools. If you would like to help Fundacion Bacardi rebuild the schools they have been working with please write 'HAITI' in the message space on our paypal donation page.

Your donations are greatly appreciated and will help Haitians begin to rebuild their lives.

Teens in Doylestown, PA Raise Money for SCA!

During the month of November the 7th and 8th grade boys and girls of Our Lady of Mount Carmel school developed different activities in which they could raise money for Foundation SCA's programs. I visited the school last April to speak about my experience and the importance of incorporating a spirit of service and social responsibility into your daily life. Apparently I made an impression!

The students broke up into teams to come up with an activity, timeline, and fundraising goal. Some of the activities they developed were: an apples to apples tournament in which an 'entry fee' was charged, a bake sale, guessing the number of M&M's in a jar, a gingerbread house contest, and ladder golf.

At the end of all of their hard work, the students raised nearly $1,000 for our cause. They are such an inspiration to all young people. The Board and Staff couldn't be happier that we have such enthusiastic young people on our side, and hope to see this kind of movement spread in 2010.

Sorawell is Recognized by Hilton!

Our successful program in Cameroon, the Sorawell Professional Training Center for young women, has recently been acknowledged by Hilton Hotels. The Hilton in Yaoundé, Cameroon specifically requests students in Sorawell's program to come intern and work full time for them.

Mr. Roland Muntzer, the general manager of the Yaoundé Hilton, describes the students as having, "...enthusiasm, a spirit of initiative, high sense of consideration for people in general and particularly of our customers. They are also hardworking, professional, and conscientious."

Foundation SCA's 1 Year Anniversary

Things have been so hectic planning for our Inaugural Cocktail Benefit on November 10, (see http://foundationsca.org/index.asp?pageid=51 for more info) that I forgot to mention it was our 1 year anniversary of receiving our 501 (c ) 3 on Tuesday October 27! Happy Anniversary to us. Foundation SCA has come a long way, and we have all learned so much in the short time we have been involved with the foundation.

Fundraising this year has been a challenge, but since Lourdes and myself were hired in February of 2009, we have been able to raise 24% of the necessary funding to cover our program budget. Every last penny of these donations has already been given to our programs. We funded a wonderful seminar on the importance of family in Russia, gave 2 girls from Lexington College scholarships, and were able to give partial funding to our Professional Training Center in Cameroon. Thank you from the bottom of my heart to all of you who have had faith in our work and had the courage to support our programs. I can testify first hand that your money is being put to good use and our programs really are changing the lives of young women.

This means we have raised 9% of what we need for operating expenses, our program budget, and our desired endowment fund. We still have some work to do, but hopefully with our continued efforts and a successful Benefit on November 10, we will be a few steps closer to our 2009 goals.

I cannot express adequately in words what a worthy investment I know these programs are. I believe it will take some time for others to recognize this, but I am confident that they will and they too will be excited about making an investment in the lives of women around the world.

Gender Gap Report 2009

"Women and girls make up one half of the human resources available to the world and it will be imperative that they are educated, empowered and integrated for a rapid economic recovery"

Saadia Zahihi, Director of Head Constituents, World Economic Forum

The World Economic Forum's Gender Gap Report came out yesterday. The Index benchmarks national gender gaps on economic, political, education- and health based criteria, and provides country rankings that allow for effective comparisons across regions and income groups, and over time.

The Global Gender Gap Index ranks countries according to their proximity to gender equality rather than to women’s empowerment. Our aim is to focus on whether the gap between women and men in the chosen variables has declined, rather than whether women are “winning” the “battle of the sexes”. Hence, the Index rewards countries that reach the point where outcomes for women equal those for men, but it neither rewards nor penalizes cases in which women are outperforming men in particular variables.

134 countries were ranked. Both South Africa and Switzerland have made significant improvements from 2008. Cameroon ranks 118th, Kenya ranks 98th, Slovenia ranks 52nd, Russia ranks 51st, and Poland ranks 50th.

check out the full report: http://www.weforum.org/pdf/gendergap/report2009.pdf

Missing Funds for Internally Displaced Kenyans

There has been a lot in the news lately about the IDPs in Kenya. Most of the people living in the Farm Camp Foundation SCA is supporting never received government funding to try and rebuild their lives. This is the main reason why many are still living in tents.

http://www.afrol.com/articles/34520