October 11 is the International Day of the Girl Child. It’s a chance to recognize how far we’ve come in empowering girls and young women across the globe and an opportunity to continue to effect change in the lives and communities of future generations of women.
Adolescent girls have the right to a safe, educated, and healthy life, not only during these critical formative years, but also as they mature into women. If effectively supported during the adolescent years, girls have the potential to change the world – both as the empowered girls of today and as tomorrow’s workers, mothers, entrepreneurs, mentors, household heads, and political leaders. – United Nations
But we all know that it’s impossible for an adolescent girl to feel empowered or reach her potential when her basic needs – food, shelter, clothes, and healthcare – are not met.
That’s why we have our Highly Vulnerable Children’s fund. A way to help a local church partner provide for a child or teen who is in immediate need. Just like Larpopo in Thailand.
When a fire burned down Larpopo’s bamboo hut, she wasn’t sure how she or her siblings would recover from such a devastating loss. Abandoned by their parents, Larpopo had become the head of her household. As an adolescent girl of only 14 years old, Larpopo was in charge of four siblings.
Her local church, with assistance from Compassion, used Complementary Intervention funds to rebuild Larpopo’s hut. Larpopo was also put on Compassion’s Highly Vulnerable Children’s Fund which gives her and her siblings extra support in absence of adult caregivers.
The situation is far from perfect, but freed from the immediate burdens, Larpopo now has potential. Even though she has become a caregiver at age 14, she is enrolled in our child sponsorship program where her education is a top priority – where she has potential to dream for a future and potential to change the world.
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