This is Mary, one of our JSS1 students in Freetown and she absolutely loves singing. Her favourite subject at school is performing arts and she loves singing in front of a crowd.

Mary wakes up bright and early at 6am every day to go to school – she walks to school and it takes her an hour each way. But Mary says it’s worth travelling the long distance to school because eventually she wants to study to be a nurse.

Even though she’s just 14, Mary’s been through a lot. Her parents both died when she was only 2 years old, so now she lives with her aunt and two cousins.  She’s had to move from her hometown in Bo to the capital Freetown, which is where her aunt lives.

Despite the hardships she’s faced, we’re so inspired by Mary’s resilience and the joy she exudes. She’s always singing and loves performing for others – when we met her she sang a chorus of her favourite song “I’ll Tower For You” for us – it was very impressive! Hmm.. perhaps we’re looking at Sierra Leone’s next singing sensation?

So, let us introduce: the One Girl Office Makeover!

Here’s Katherine’s vision for the space – we can’t wait to take it from the drawing board into reality!

If you can join our DIY Dreamteam, get in touch with Lauren at lm@onegirl.orglau or get in touch with us on Facebook or tweet us at @onegirlorg!

You can get in touch with our wonderful volunteer interior designer, Katherine Wills at:  www.katherinewills.com

I started volunteering with One Girl before Do It In A Dress 2012 and wow, what a rollercoaster it’s been.

Last year was EPIC and I had the amazing job of being the Grassroots Community Manager which meant I got to work with our fabulous Do It In a Dress Champions and the Grassroots Community Coordinators from all around Australia. In 2013, I came on board as the Volunteer Manager and I’m not only responsible for the volunteer program, I’m also driving for our wider engagement which means I get to reach out to our amazing community and see how they want to support us! How cool is that?!

So where does the Ambassador Program come into play? Well, we started talking to our community. (That’s you guys.) We asked questions like How do you want to be engaged? What do you want to do? and the response confirmed what we had thought all along.

People wanted to do more than just hand over a credit card. They want to do more than liking a page, or signing their name on a petition. They wanted to be educated, to understand, to be able to connect their passion with our work and be able to share it with their friends and family and get people inspired to take action.

People want to get their communities involved and they want to sound credible when talking about our work. They want to get up in front of people and talk on behalf of One Girl. They want to get word out there in their own way about what we do. The question we were left with was, How? How can we empower that?

Enter: the One Girl Ambassador Program.

It was clear that we needed to create a program that not only had the win for us, but had a huge win for the people in the program. We started first by creating a 1-day workshop, but soon realised that it wasn’t nearly enough time to be able to do everything we wanted to do!! So we expanded it to 6 months and – long story short – within 12 working days we had designed, developed, publicised, opened the program for registrations and had run our very first workday! Yep, things move fast around here.

There’s so much excitement in the office as we reach 5 – 10 – 15 – 20 – 30 – 40 and now 57 applications. It’s become a bit of an obsession, I keep refreshing the page to see if we have any more applications! It’s so exciting and moving to read the applications as they come in and hear how connected people are with what we do, hear their personal stories and hear what they want to get out of the program. I can’t wait to meet every single one of our Ambassadors!

Chantelle and I ran our very first workday on 25 May in Melbourne. I was super nervous in the few days leading up to it but there was so much work to be done I didn’t really have time to focus on it (probably for the best, really!). We had 6 fabulous ladies join us for a full day of learning about One Girl’s work, what they’ll be doing as ambassadors and what that looks like for them: positioning themselves as leaders in their community and crafting their personal stories. Check them out here:

What a day!! Everyone left on a natural high, excited, moved and educated! We learnt so much more about what it’s like for a girl living in Sierra Leone and how we – as individuals – can make a direct impact.

I am so proud to be creating a network of leaders. A network of educated, powerful and passionate men and women who are all standing for what’s possible when you educate the women and girls of the world. This is why I’m absolutely in love with our Ambassador Program, and everything it stands for.

Best bit about it is, this is only the beginning. In the next few weeks we’ll be taking the One Girl Ambassador Program out on the road. We’ll be hitting cities all around Australia running 1-day training programs, check out when we’ll be in your city next.

And if you haven’t yet, apply for our Ambassador Program here. We’ve got 57 applications so far, and would love to have even more!

Look out world, our Ambassadors are on their way, and nothing is going to stop them.

Pictured (L-R): Venissa, Amy-Kate, Luke, Vasaliki and Tillie from Deakin University

This group of Uni students are taking the Do It In A Dress movement to new heights – they’re trekking the Himalayas In A Dress!

Yep, you read that right. These guys are taking on a challenge that we think wins the title of most EPIC Do It In A Dress challenge EVER: they’ll be trekking the Himalayas In A Dress!

We were blown away by this so we knew we had to chat to them and ask them WHY they were doing it!

The 18 uni students doing the trek are actually already on a humanitarian mission – they’ll be installing hot water baths and greenhouses in one of the most remote Himalayan communities during their trek. But they decided to put an extra twist to it by doing it in a school dress to raise money for girls in Sierra Leone – we freaking love it!

One of the trip organizers, Amy-Kate said she was inspired to support Do It In A Dress after hearing Chantelle give a talk at her Uni. Amy-Kate says, “Giving the girls of Sierra Leone an education will enable them to create a cycle where future generations will see the importance of education for all, no matter what the gender.”

Vasiliki was also inspired to Do It In A Dress after Chantelle’s talk, “we decided our trek in the mountains would be a perfect way to participate to raise awareness and funds to send girls to school in Sierra Leone!”

Another trekker, Venissa, is passionate about Do It In A Dress because it gives girls access to education:

“I definitely believe every girl should have access to education. I couldn’t imagine my life without the opportunities I’ve had and there are so many girls out there, especially in Sierra Leone, who aren’t as lucky as I am”.

Jackson is an International Studies and Commerce student, and he says his studies have helped him appreciate the value of education – “The power of education is the key to economic prosperity. I study the link between education and the economy, as well as ability education gives people to enhance their individual lives”.

We are truly blown away by this group of amazing students – who we think are LEGENDS not only because they’re taking on this epic challenge, but because they’re truly looking outside of themselves to see how they can serve others through their adventures.

The trek starts only a few days after Uni exams wrap up, and since the Himalayas are oh, you know..the TALLEST mountains in the world, we asked a few of them what prep they were doing before their big trek. Here are some of the guys showing us their best trekking poses

Venissa’s been hitting the gym and doing the doing the Kokoda Track Memorial Walk in Mt Dandenong – which includes a 1000 steep steps!

Josh says, “I might take a trip up to the Dandenongs in between Uni finishing and the trip but as for the high altitude…god help me”. Hahaha! Well, we reckon that no amount of training will fully prepare you for the experience you’re about to have!

You can donate to the intrepid trekkers at their Do It In A Dress page, here.

We wish you all you guys the best of luck as you take on this CRAZY adventure – we can’t wait to see some photos of you in dresses in the Himalayas, truly taking this movement to the next level!

Meet Fatu, the hardest working High School student we know.

Fatu is in SSS1 (Year 10) at Vine Memorial school in Freetown. She’s the oldest of 10 children, and together they live with their mother in Freetown. Fatu’s father used to earn the money to pay for her siblings’ education, but sadly he died last year. When he passed away the responsibility fell solely on her mother, but she couldn’t afford to send all her children to school. We can’t imagine the grief Fatu’s mother experienced in losing her husband, but on top of that knowing she would no longer be able to put her children through school must have been an inconceivable weight on her shoulders.

It’s an all too common story for girls to drop out of school because their parents can’t afford to pay for the school fees. But because of your support, we were able to change the story for Fatu. We met Fatu last year and were so glad we could offer her a scholarship to stay in school and complete her education.

Fatu is an early riser. Even though school doesn’t begin till 1pm, she gets up early every morning to help her mother with a petty trading business, from 8 in the morning until 12.30, then she heads to school. Then after a full day at school, Fatu comes home to look after her six sisters and three brothers, which is almost a full-time job in itself!

Petty trading is very common in Sierra Leone. It comes in a variety of forms, and involves selling small items like matches, or food items like sugar, salt or eggs. A petty trading business might look like makeshift shop front, with a window and shelf, or a small shed attached to the front of the house, or it might simply be a table set up outside. In the rural farming areas of Sierra Leone, petty traders usually sell fruit or vegetables that they grow themselves to supplement their income.

Because petty trading is such a big part of life in Sierra Leone, we’re providing small business training to all of our senior scholarship girls.  Through the training they’ll learn basic financial literacy and small business skills so they can help support their families. It also means they get really practical knowledge they can use long after they leave school.

Work for a high school student like Fatu means so much more than just completing assignments and sitting exams. For her, work is helping with her mother’s trading business, looking after 9 younger brothers and sisters, and taking responsibility for doing chores, on top of all her school assignments. Imagine trying to juggle two other jobs while you studied for your exams! We are seriously inspired by Fatu’s determination and work ethic, and we’re so glad she has the opportunity to apply it in the classroom and get the education she deserves.

Fatu has three more years of school left, and after she finishes she wants to become a nurse. Her favourite subject is Food and Nutrition, and with all of her experience taking care of her brothers and sisters, we think she’ll make an amazing nurse.

Go get ‘em, Fatu!

We’ve been feeling a bit guilty though. Last year, more than 700 amazing people wore a school dress to send girls in Sierra Leone to school, but until today, no one has known the impact their hard work had in Sierra Leone. But today you will know! We’ve got our fancy little impact report in this post, as well as the reasons why it took us so long to report back to you.

Check it out!

Impressive huh? But I bet you’re wondering why it took us so long to report back on this.. well..

1. We raised more than we expected.

Last year, Do It In A Dress raised over $275,000, which is a LOT of money. Inititally, we’d planned to invest the funds back into the scholarship girls we’re currently supporting – all 150 of them (you can read about that here), however, we soon realised that it wouldn’t be ethical to sit on a big pile of cash for the next 12 or so years while our girls move through school. So we needed to finalise the proposals for our other projects – and that takes time and expertise.

2. Since November, we’ve been getting our new project proposals finalised.

In November last year, we brought on Lucy Gray, our amazing program manager. Since then, Lucy has been working with our team in Sierra Leone and Australia. We’ve been getting our strategic direction nailed and coming up with concrete program documentation for the next two years. As you can imagine engaging with 15 communities, 23 schools and hundreds of families takes time. Not to mention planning programs and creating detailed two year budgets. Lucy visited Sierra Leone in February, and since Feb she’s been working her bum off to finish the project documentation for 2013 and 2014.

3. We’re committed to making a REAL difference, not just spending money because we have to. 

We’ve been fundraising now for about 4 years. And we know how much energy and love goes into raising every single dollar. To us, every dollar is a gift – it’s crucial that our funds our invested wisely. But we couldn’t guarantee this until our project documentation was complete - Hence our silence. Now that we’re reporting on the Do It In A Dress impact, we are doing so with integrity. We know that the money is being directed to where it needs to go, AND that it’s going to make a direct impact on the ground in Sierra Leone and get as many girls back in school as possible.

4. Change takes time

We live in a world of instants. You can grab a delicious coffee in just a few minutes, take a photo and have it online in seconds, and we get antsy if our email takes more than a few seconds to load. But long term sustainable change doesn’t work like that. Our team in Sierra Leone are working in one of the toughest environments in the world. Not only are we working in some extremely remote communities, but we’re dealing with petrol shortages, clashing cultural beliefs, language barriers and god knows what else. Change takes time – at the risk of sounding like a shampoo commercial, “it won’t happen overnight, but it will happen.”

Now that we’ve invested this time to review and thoroughly document our programs, the next two years will be EPIC.

We’re all VERY excited about the next two years in Sierra Leone (and Australia).

We’ve also brought on amazing new communications guru called Larissa, and she’s been doing a fantastic job at getting the One Girl word out.

So to round it out, a huge thank you to EVERYONE who got their dress on in 2012. Together we created something truly magical. And we can’t wait to do it again in 2013.

When she was just 11 years old, Binta was sent to Freetown to live with her older brother. Her brother was planning to give Binta up for marriage, even though she was just a little girl. This isn’t uncommon in Sierra Leone. Young girls can be seen as a burden and marriage is seen as a solution for this. Thankfully, one of her other brothers, Mohamed, heard about this and put a stop to it. He took Binta to live with him instead.

Sadly, Mohamed didn’t have a job so Binta was forced to drop out of school and help her brother sell small goods on the streets. Binta had only finished school up till JSS2 (Year 8). Mohamed tried to save enough to get Binta a tutor, but he couldn’t afford to send her back to school.

We met Binta and her brother Mohamed in 2012, when they were living in the Murray Town slum. We heard Binta’s story and offered her a scholarship to go back to school. Binta hadn’t been in school for 4 years and seized the opportunity get back into the classroom.

Since she’s been back in school she’s worked so hard, and for her mid-term exam, Binta received the second highest score in the whole school! The teachers have now awarded Binta the role of Head Prefect. As Head Prefect, Binta arrives at school before other students, making sure the classrooms are swept and cleaned, and she’s responsible for taking attendance for her teacher.

We are so inspired by Binta’s story and the incredible journey she’s had so far. Binta’s now in SS1 (Year 10) and will sit for her exam soon to move into SS2 (Year 11). We can’t wait to see what Binta will achieve next!

We’re so grateful that your support enables us to get bright young girls like Binta back into the classroom where they belong – so thank you. We hope you’re as moved by Binta’s story as we are!

Like, we REALLY love them.

Our volunteers are some of the hardest working, most talented and passionate people we know and it’s so amazing to be able to work with them. This week is National Volunteer Week, and it’s a great opportunity to shine the spotlight on some of our rockstar volunteers who make One Girl tick. It’s incredible to think that much of the work we do literally wouldn’t be possible without these guys and the many others who put in countless hours, a tonne of energy and a whole lot of love into the work they do with us. So this week we want to say THANK YOU to our vollies – you guys rock our world!

This is Leila, our amazing Participant Support Officer for Do It In A Dress last year!
How long have you been volunteering with One Girl?
I’ve been volunteering with One Girl for about 9 months now, I jumped on board in the early stages of the Do It In A Dress movement last year.

What kind of work did you do?
I was the Participant Support Officer for Do It In A Dress, which meant I got to talk to and support all of the amazing participants and see what crazy challenges they got up to! I was the go-to girl for questions and help, and I also got to write the e-newsletter updates for all of our supporters.

Why are you passionate about investing in girls?
Girls have so much potential which in a lot of the developing world continues to go unnoticed and is suppressed. An educated girl will make better life decisions, will be healthier and will therefore make a better life for herself and her children. A girl will become a mother, and so investing in girls also means investing in future generations – and the benefits just keep on multiplying.

And finally (the obligatory silly question), if you could be any superhero which one would you be?
Sailor Moon – she looks good, kicks butt and has a cat sidekick. She’s also in an all-girl gang. What’s not to love!

Everyone, meet Sandra – our Financial Accountant extraordinaire!
How long have you been volunteering with One Girl?
I started working for One Girl in December 2012 so about 5 months now

What is your role with One Girl?
My role is Financial Accountant and I ensure that all the financial obligations of the organisation are recorded correctly so that we can produce Reports that are audited annually and reviewed monthly by the Directors and the Board.

What attracted you to One Girl as an organisation?
I was looking for a volunteering position and came across the One Girl role.  I jumped online and was blown away not only by the professionalism of the team but the heartfelt philosophy of the organisation’s aims and objectives. I wanted to be part of it and contribute.

What’s the best thing about volunteering with One Girl?
We all want to make a difference but by working for One Girl you not only make a difference yourself but you get to make a difference to a girl living in Africa who will change not only her world but that of generations to come! I think this is a very special thing to be part of.

What is your theme song? What song best describes you?
Haha …The first song that comes to mind is “I’m on the road to nowhere” by Talking Heads!

And last, but not least, this is Garth our all-round Creative Guru!
How long have you been volunteering with One Girl?
I have been volunteering at One Girl for 2 years.

What is your role with One Girl?
I have changed my role at one girl, evolving where I have been needed. I started off doing the campaign shoot for Do It In A Dress 2011 and then I came on to do the creative direction of the cocktail event for the Launch of Do It In A Dress 2012. Once that role was completed I came on board as the Photographer/Co-Director of the Video and Campaign Shoot for 2012. This year I’ve taken on the role of Digital Producer, helping drive One Girl’s creative production.

What attracted you to One Girl as an organisation?
What attracted to me the One Girl organisation is that I could see that I could really make a difference with the skills that I have to fulfill on what I can see can make such a difference in the world.

What’s the best thing about volunteering with One Girl?
Is the open space to really say what you think works, doesn’t work about what we are up to and working on. A safe space. Also seeing that massive difference that we are making when we get photos or contact the Sierra Leon team about what is happening on the ground.


And finally, silly question time! If your life were a movie who would you want to play you?
I am going to say Meryl Streep because it would be hilarious to see her take on being me.

Do you believe every girl has the right to an education? We do.

It seems so obvious to us – of COURSE every girl has the right to go to school. But not everyone agrees with us. There are 60 MILLION girls around the world don’t have access to education – How crazy is that? We really can’t imagine where any of us would be if we’d never learned how to read and write.

This is something that we’re really passionate about – and we know there are lots of passionate people out there, who are just like us. And it might be that you’re also looking for a way to turn that passion into action.

Which is why we’re putting the call out Australia wide for One Girl Ambassadors. We’re launching a 6-month program around Australia that will train you in becoming an inspirational speaker, leader and advocate for girls education and social change.

Here are the reasons why you should join us.

1. You’ll find your tribe.

As a One Girl Ambassador you’ll be rubbing shoulders with some of Australia’s most passionate and motivated men and women who are spreading the word about Girls Education AND are changing the lives of women and girls in Sierra Leone, West Africa. Join a community of like-minded people who are excited about the same issues as you.

2. Leadership and speaker training

Through a 1-day training in your local city, ongoing google hangouts and supporter emails, you’ll be trained to be an inspiring speaker AND develop yourself as a leader. You’ll learn how to craft your own talks and stories so that you can inspire change in the people around you.

3. Lead a social change movement

You’ll learn about the science behind creating social change movements – plus you’ll be equipped to build up leaders around you and engage your local networks in One Girl’s work and our Do It In A Dress campaign. Best of all, you’ll be leading a movement that works to enable girls and women to reach their full potential.

If you want to rock the world for women and girls, then we hope you’ll join us!

For more information and to apply go to: www.onegirl.org.au/ambassador

The first round of training days will occur at the end of May and continue through to July, please refer to the dates we’ll be in your city. We can’t wait to hear from you!

Zainab’s parents passed away shortly after the war ended in Sierra Leone. She was sent to live with her uncle and his six children.

Zainab’s uncle is a farmer, and he doesn’t earn enough money to send all of his children to school. Zainab missed out on the opportunity to attend school, because her uncle had to put his own children first.

Zainab was desperate to learn, so every day she’d wander over to her local primary school and sit inside the classroom. She had no books, no bag, no uniform and no pencils – but that didn’t stop her. The schools call children like these ‘visitors’. Many children in Sierra Leone do this if their parents can’t afford to send them to school.

Children who are visitors don’t get to sit their exams because they haven’t paid for the school fees. Even though Zainab wouldn’t be able to graduate primary school as a visitor, she kept at it. She was so desperate to learn and she decided that listening to the lessons was better than no education at all.

Last year, because of your support , we were able to give Zainab a scholarship, and now she’s a student in Grade 6!

When Zainab goes to school now it’s a totally different picture. She has books, a bag, uniform and pencils and most importantly, she’ll be sitting her exams so that she can graduate and move into High School! How awesome is that?

We love that we’re able to give girls like Zainab, who are so hungry to learn, an opportunity to get an education. And we love our supporters who help make this work possible – that’s you!

All the girls we work with come from different situations and have all faced some difficult challenges. But all these amazing girls have one thing in common – a desire to learn!

In Sierra Leone, girls know the value of education. They know how important it is because it’s not something that they are guaranteed, or even something they can expect. There are so many barriers to young girls continuing their education, from child marriage, a lack of money for school fees, and even illness and disease. All this means that girls will go to any length to try and get an education.

We’re continously inspired by girls like Zainab – and it makes us believe more than ever that when you educate a girl, she can change her world.