Every girl deserves to dream dreams and have the chance to make them come true. Including you. 

From a young age, you were probably asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Your parents and teachers encourage you to dream big, to figure out what you love to do, and then find a way to make your dream come true. Right?

Did You Know?

Girls in poorer countries don’t dream about their futures. It never occurs to them to imagine a life different than their parents have. They don’t get to dream about a better life because poverty makes having a different life impossible. So no one ever asks them that question, and if you do ask them...they don't know how to answer.

Learning that made me sad, and it led me to uncover and create my dream.

Let me tell you about it.

-Sara Johnson, Founder MGA 

THINK ABOUT:

• What if you had no choice about your future? How would you feel if you couldn't dream?
• If you have the resources and the ability to do and be anything you want, do you have a responsibility to help other girls find their dreams or is that not your problem? 
• How do you gain the confidence needed to follow a dream? 
• How can you help other girls learn to dream?
• What do you dream of doing one day?
• How are you pursuing your dream? 

ACTIVITES:

Activity #1: Create a Dream Board

1. Find a piece of blank paper, it can be any size.
2. Split the paper in half.  On one side, draw pictures or cut photos from magazines and newspapers to show how you would feel if you couldn’t dream.  What if all you could do was work from a young age as a farmer, a street seller, or at your parent’s shop? How would you feel? 
3. On the other half, show how you think the world would feel or be if every girl was allowed to dream and had the opportunity and ability to make her dreams come true?
4. On the back of the paper, draw or show something that represents a dream you have and keep it as a reminder of how lucky you are to live in a place where your dreams can come true.

Activity #2: Tell Us What You Think

Send us a video or a note sharing your dream or telling us your answer(s) to one of the questions above. Email your thoughts to: [email protected].

Activity #3:

Consider starting a personal fundraising campaign on your profile to raise $350. That is the amount it takes to send a girl to school for one year. It pays her school fees and replaces the income she would make for her family if she was working instead. Going to school is what allows girls to dream because education makes changing her future possible. Helping her get there is one way you can help.

AROUND MGA:

Extra Resources: Learn Even More

Women’s Microfinance Initiative

Empowers poor, rural African women to improve their lives through small-business loans. See how lives are changed when women are encouraged to dream and given small loans to help them make their business dream come true.

Maiti Nepal – Giving Hopes and Dreams for Many Girls

Maiti Nepal, a non-profit organization, provides shelter not only to the Nepali dancers, but also to over 500 other girls in the South Asian nation’s capital, Kathmandu. The organization assists victims of sex trafficking and prostitution, practices which are widespread in the impoverished country. In 2013, Nepal’s annual per capita income stood at a mere $730.