Day 10: Teach a Woman in Darfur to Read & Write

Today, I found a charity that helps Darfurian women learn to read and write. On the Darfur Peace and Development Organization's website, the charity states, "Darfur Peace & Development is a non-profit, non-sectarian organization with headquarters in Washington, DC and offices in Khartoum and El Fasher Sudan. DPDO works to foster reconciliation, to facilitate just governance and to enable Darfurians to rebuild their homeland in effective, sustainable ways. DPDO also promotes awareness of the crisis in the United States."

The site associated with the DPDO, the Literacy Site, which I found through GreaterGood.org, offers a $30 donation to pay for the tools that a woman needs for a 6-month literacy training program, including textbooks, school supplies, and a literacy teacher. According to the Literacy Site, Women and children comprise approximately 80% of the displaced population encamped throughout Darfur and Eastern Chad. They have suffered loss of homes, livelihoods and possessions. As a matter of survival for themselves and their children, economic recovery is a primary concern of the displaced women. Farming has been their traditional livelihood, but they currently have no access to their lands. They have lost husbands and brothers who were income earners. Now they must support their surviving children and, in many cases, parents. Few opportunities to earn income exist in the camps." It is extremely difficult for a woman that can read and write find a job or source of a living in Darfur, and it's nearly impossible to find a job while being illiterate.

For three years now, I've been involved in helping the people of Darfur through the Darfur TASC Force, a section of The Agents of Social Change, or TASC, an organization run by 6th, 7th and 8th graders in my school. Last year, I was a "co-clerk" or co-leader of the Darfur TASC Force, and this year, I am a co-clerk of TASC in it's entirety. It's a lot of recess that I have to spend inside, but I enjoy it, and it's an honor to be able to help serve the Darfur Human Rights Organization, and Darfurians in general. It would mean a lot if you donated or if you supported one of our upcoming events.

To donate, please click here. It's a relatively small donation that completely changes a life. Thanks for reading!