Earlier this year, a 14-year-old girl in Vietnam named Huyen shared with Plan staff what she imagines in a new world — a better world — for girls.
“What would you do if you were in charge?” we asked her. “What kind of world do you dream of?”
“As the saying goes, ‘a forest starts with one tree,’” Huyen says. “I imagine that everyone can help to build a better world … I dream of a world where girls are owners of their futures.”
Huyen’s story deeply resonates with many people around the world. Her family lost everything during the pandemic, and they still struggle to get their hands on basic necessities like food and water. The time Huyen lost at school during the shutdown is something she knows she’ll never get back.
But even though she’s seen how dark the world can get, she still has one thing no one can take from her: hope. And she’s not just looking inward. She has hope for a better world for all girls, and believes that people like you will work with them to build that world.
[Read: In her own words: Imagining a new normal]
Your Gifts of Hope are investments in Huyen’s vision. They’re the building blocks that girls will stand on to uplift their communities everywhere and create the better world we know is possible.
Your gifts support girls like Shompa from Bangladesh, who participated in a Plan program and learned about the dangers of child marriage. When her parents wanted her to be married at 16, she used her knowledge and convinced them to let her stay in school.
Now, she protects other girls in her community from child marriage. A source of inspiration and hope for her community, Shompa has managed to stop five child marriages so far.
“Shompa is an angel sent to support us,” the grandmother of a girl who Shompa helped protect says.
And across the world in Sierra Leone, a 19-year-old aspiring lawyer named Fatmata is standing in front of her mirror, imagining herself in a courtroom giving closing arguments. After receiving support from Plan and realizing her right to an education, she’s now about to enter college and study law. She was told her whole life that a girl is only worth becoming a bride, but she kept believing in something more.
“Girls in my country face many injustices,” she says. “One day I will represent them in court. I will give them hope.”
It takes just one gift — one person like you — to build a better world. Whether you choose to Protect a Girl, provide School Fees for a Girl or gift any of the other powerful items in Plan’s Gifts of Hope catalog, you show a child thousands of miles away that they matter.
When you give a gift, you join in the collective generosity of Plan’s community of determined optimists, who create long-lasting impact and show girls that we’re investing in the future they deserve!
A forest starts with one tree, and a better world for girls starts with one gift. What will yours be?
