Because I Am a Girl (Scout)

I was able to present the importance of female empowerment at my...

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 12:52:11 -0400

I was able to present the importance of female empowerment at my high school’s presentation night. My project partner, Katie, and I focused on the revolution, reform, and reaction of women’s rights. The project gave me a perfect opportunity to talk about my experiences at the Commission on the Status of Women.

Goodbye NYC

Fri, 02 Mar 2012 23:25:25 -0500

On February 25, I traveled to New York with four people I had never met before. The next day, I started to meet other girls aged 12-18 that would be serving as youth delegates at the Commission on the Status of Women. For the most part, we had few things in common: our attendance of the conference, our gender and our age. After spending a week attending sessions, meetings and events, I feel like we’re all leaving with something of a connection. The CSW has opened my eyes to issues I’d never really thought about and to the options I can have in my future. I am leaving incredibly inspired to make a change and I know that my fellow youth delegates feel the same.

I have met so many amazing and inspiring young women since I first arrived and I feel like we’ve all had an opportunity to get to know each other. The girls and even a couple boys that I have met while in New York have traveled anywhere from a 15 minute cab ride to a 22 hour plane ride just for this event.

The stories shared this week have brought all of us to a certain understanding and I know that I will never forget the true stories and raw feelings we all shared. My greatest connections made during the week came primarily with the girls from Plan International. Working with them was the best part of the conference. They told Hannah, Olivia and I all about their village lives as well as their private lives. We had some of the most in-depth conversations about countless random topics. I almost want to say that saying goodbye to them was, emotionally, the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do.

I wasn’t really able to spend a lot of time with the girls today, due to our flight home. The girls slept in this morning so I was only able to give a quick hug and exchange my information. I wasn’t even able to say goodbye to one of the girls. I held it together pretty well but once I stepped into the streets it really hit me that I may never see those girls again. At that point, I couldn’t stop my tears.

The CSW has been an experience I will never forget. Not a day will go by without me thinking about one of the girls I met here or an event from New York. I hope that someday I will be able to participate in something like the CSW, again. Until then, I am going to share my experiences and aim to leave my mark starting locally, taking it nationally and ultimately globally. The CSW has changed my goals and I am so grateful that I was able to be a part of the 56th conference.

Olivia Pecora, me (Sophia Templin) and Hannah Sands at the Plan...

Fri, 02 Mar 2012 07:07:56 -0500

Olivia Pecora, me (Sophia Templin) and Hannah Sands at the Plan International Reception. For the last week, we have been spending time with the 9 girls from all over the world and introducing them to technology. Olivia has taken noted at events, Hannah has taken video and pictures and I run the @plan_youth twitter account. The three of us have really gotten to know the girls on a personal level and there is no doubt that we will miss every single one.

Olivia and Hannah (Girls Learn International)
Me (Girl Scouts)

A preview of a song the girls will be singing later tonight! We...

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 11:20:17 -0500

A preview of a song the girls will be singing later tonight!

We choose our right to fight against violence joining our means and minds, our hands and heart to fight for our right. Violence against children and gender discrimination, together we will conquer.
(A song written by Fabiola. “A message on violence and gender discrimination. We have a song to sing; a message forth we bring. Carry by our young wings- building of living skills, it’s a choice to live our lives as girls belong all pride to fight against all vice and choose what never dies we choose our right.”)

Girl Scouts and the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl...

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 09:26:08 -0500

Girl Scouts and the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts group after brunch this morning! Add your voice to stop violence at www.stoptheviolencecampaign.com. Listen, discuss, share, talk. Girls’ voices should not be a whisper, they should be a shout.

"You have every possibility to shine. When you go back home, share with your community what you have..."

Wed, 29 Feb 2012 21:11:56 -0500

“You have every possibility to shine. When you go back home, share with your community what you have done here [at CSW].”

- Thando Nzimande, a youth delegate from The Grail organization

A banner at the “Bringing it Home” alumni panel.

Wed, 29 Feb 2012 21:09:22 -0500

A banner at the “Bringing it Home” alumni panel.

The Plan group at the “So what about boys?” event...

Wed, 29 Feb 2012 21:08:07 -0500

The Plan group at the “So what about boys?” event last night. The panel was held at the North Lawn Building in the United Nations. Live tweets for each event Plan girls attend can be found on Twitter by following @planglobal and @plan_youth.

This video was shared at the “Bringing it Home: Youth...

Wed, 29 Feb 2012 20:42:21 -0500

This video was shared at the “Bringing it Home: Youth Delegates Share the Impact of the CSW” event held today. The video was compiled of footage from CSW alumni.

Teresa and Fatmata are dressed in African dresses made of Brilon...

Wed, 29 Feb 2012 09:06:50 -0500

Teresa and Fatmata are dressed in African dresses made of Brilon and Gara. Girl Scouts are wearing uniforms today.

A Busy Day

Wed, 29 Feb 2012 00:06:31 -0500

For the last couple days, the girls at Plan International have been preparing speeches for their upcoming events. I helped the girls rehearse and we worked on proper English grammar. When I wasn’t working with the girls giving speeches, I started working on a new video. For the next couple weeks, the girl journalists will be recording all nine of the Plan girls telling a personal story that deals with female education, child marriage and pregnancy, violence or discrimination. I was able to record Loyce’s personal story about her adopted neice who overcame her direct family’s discouragement and stayed dedicated to education. Everyday the Plan girls inspire me with an inside look on their lives back home.

Around noon, Maryam and Fatmata began prepping for their speeches at the “Ending Early andForced Marriage” event with NY Times writer Marianne Pearl. The Plan UK CEO, Marie Staunton, also joined the girls along with Lynne Featherstone, a member of parliament, the Minster for Equalities and the UK Government’s Ambassador for Violence Against Women.

I reported with live tweets from the @Plan_Youth twitter account and the @Planglobal account was active as well. In response, we got a lot of positive feedback. Just today, I shared over 60 tweets from three different events that the girls and I attended today.

From the “Breaking Vows” panel event, we then went to the “Girl-Boy Dialogue” event where we talked about what economic empowerment means to each of us. Keang was on the panel and spoke about the inequalities between boys, girls, men and women. We ended up leaving the seminar early in order to attend “So, what about boys?” at the United Nations where Alishba and Salen gave speeches on male involvement. Later, a youth delegate reception was held at the Girl Scout Office. The girls got an oppotunity to spend time and get to know one another better. Somehow, the reception turned into a dance party where all the girls taught each other dances from their home countries. Overall, the night was a success and the 56th Commission on the Status of Women has been a life changing experience (so far.)

Female Empowerment Song

Tue, 28 Feb 2012 23:31:00 -0500

Some of the girls from South Africa taught the other youth delegates a female empowerment song at the Youth Delegate Reception:

Leli lizwe elamakhosikazi. Alisoze laphela amandla!

This world belongs to the women. It will never lose power.

"If we want a stable society and a peaceful world, we must not neglect men and boys."

Tue, 28 Feb 2012 22:38:02 -0500

“If we want a stable society and a peaceful world, we must not neglect men and boys.””

The Girl Scouts from my council went to Times Square last night!

Tue, 28 Feb 2012 22:20:45 -0500

The Girl Scouts from my council went to Times Square last night!

Thanks to Fatmata and Teresa, I got my hair cornrowed yesterday!...

Tue, 28 Feb 2012 07:35:18 -0500

Thanks to Fatmata and Teresa, I got my hair cornrowed yesterday! Lorisa got hers done as well.
Pictured Left to Right: Lorisa, Fatmata, Me, Teresa

Because I am a GIRL blog

Tue, 28 Feb 2012 00:45:42 -0500

Because I am a GIRL blog :

From this site, the girl journalists will be typing the Plan International girls’ stories and experiences up throughout the week. Help us promote female education by checking out our blog, posting a picture of people raising their hand for education and through the hash-tag: #bcimagirl.

Follow us on twitter!
@planglobal (Plan International)
@bcimagirl (Because I am a Girl Campaign)
@sophietemplin (my personal account)
@ngo_csw_ny (joint account for all NGOs in attendance of the CSW
@un_csw (official CSW account)
@plan_youth (official Plan InternationL account)
#bcimagirl
#csw56

Raising hands for girls education with the UK CEO of Plan...

Tue, 28 Feb 2012 00:36:56 -0500

Raising hands for girls education with the UK CEO of Plan International!

"I want to teach my peers about themselves, their rights and how to change in order to make the world..."

Tue, 28 Feb 2012 00:32:44 -0500

“I want to teach my peers about themselves, their rights and how to change in order to make the world a better place.”

- Loyce from Malawi

Welcome to the 56th CSW!

Tue, 28 Feb 2012 00:32:21 -0500

In November of this year I applied for an amazing opportunity through Girl Scouts. Four girls from my council would be taken to New York to represent the Girl Scouts of the United States at the 56th annual Commission on the Status of Women held by the United Nations. To my surprise, I was accepted and training sessions via webinar began in January. Along with my council, two other Girl Scout councils brought groups of four girls. Other organizations with attending youth delegates inckude the Girls Learn International Organization, The Grail, the World Associatn of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts and Plan International.
Although we’ve only been here since late Friday night, this has already been one of the most inspiring experiences I’ve ever been a part of. Instead of attending sessions with other youth delegates at the CSW, I was selected to work with the 9 girls that Plan International brought to New York along with another Girl Scout from another region and two girls from Girls Learn. The girls come from 5 different countries: Keang and Sale from Cambodia, Fabiola from Cameroon, Loyce and Elizabeth from Malawi, Alishba and Maryam from Pakistan, and Teresa and Fatmata from Sierra Leone. As girl journalists, we will be documenting their thoughts and personal experiences throughout on various mediums of social media.
When I’m with the girls we have extremely natural conversations. We talk about food, clothes, boys, culture. We share, we take pictures together and today, Fatmata and Teresa corn-rowed my entire head. However, once we begitalking about their purpose and expectations for the CSW they share some insight on all the issues in their mind. Once a conversation on the topic of rural women and girls ensues, one truly sees just how personal this year’s theme really is. Since the girls have so much insight and can talk about the topic for hours, I truly enjoy the time I get to spend with them and once I return to my own community, I know that my life will be forever changed.