So, don't you know how they have those "Save the Children" things either on television or in places where people won't pay the sponsors any mind like for instance: the mall, perhaps? Well, I went to Annapolis Mall on Monday. My friends kept saying how big it is, well in reality Arundel Mills, Columbia, and Towson malls are much bigger.
So anyways, as we walking to the mall I saw this "Save the Children" stand and the lady was trying to get people to come listen to what she had to say. After waking past her twice, I decided to go over there for two reasons:
1. I know it's not easy trying to get people to listen to you, especially on a topic that has to deal with sponsoring children that you know nothing about and giving them money.
2. I thought that maybe this would be interesting.
The first thing she asked was my name and my age. Then we went off topic talking about what school we attended because come to find out, this "lady" was 19 and goes University of Maryland! We both were little nerds growing up. She liked/likes homework just as much as I did/do. AND she's a Sagittarius. <------Fun Fact -----> I'm an Aquarius and according to Astrology we are a cool team.
As she was talking, (I keep saying she because I forgot her name), I learned a few things about their Save the Children Program.
1. There are over 120 programs across the world.
2. She actually sponsors a kid who looks like Jake from Glee.
We talked about connecting with a child you sponsor for and that's how she connected with her kid.
3. They are not with "That old guy with the white beard who tells us to give to the children."
4. Their main goal is to educate the children/community.
The forth point brings me to this fact that blew my mind yesterday! She showed me two kids from Malawi and asked, "Can you look at these two kids and tell me their story? What is similar between these two kids.?"
Well both kids were black with very short hair. In fact, that both looked like two boys to be honest. One a little girl and one was a little boy. The reason why the girl was dressed to look like a boy was because there is a problem with HIV/AIDS in Malawi.
There's a myth in Malawi and other sub-Saharan parts of Africa that if you're living with HIV/AIDS, there cure is to have sex with a virgin. That little girl's hair is cut to protect her.
This culture in Africa needs to be educated on HIV/AIDS. They need to b educated on health in general because the fact that that belief that having sex with a virgin is so strong that people have to disguise their little girls as boys. They say "If you know better, you do better." We, generally speaking, could help these people do better.
Maybe that's what the Save the Children Program is working towards.