Wow! We are Celebrating the successful completion of the Campaign "Still left behind: Inclusive education for disabled and illiterate girls" with Sofonie Dala

 Congratulations and welcome to our world!

Speech by Global Peace Ambassador Sofonie Dala on the occasion of celebration of the successful completion of Africa Educates Her Campaign Angola - Season 4

02 May 2021, Angola, Luanda city

Good evening Ladies and Gentlemen, It is my pleasure and privilege to welcome you here tonight to celebrate the successful completion of this beautiful campaign - "Still left behind: Inclusive education for disabled and illiterate girls" ending today.

Let's start our program with a hot dance.

Ladies and gentlemen, meet our dancers Nicha, Catia and Engracia!

[These teenagers are students of the second level]

Campaign report

It was a fantastic short edition of only 5 series but with a great social impact. Our campaign aims to identify illiterate and girls with disabilities in such a way that it supports building an inclusive society for all.

During this journey, we witnessed chilling stories of girls with serious health and social problems. Some of them are orphans living in extreme poverty and have more than one type of disability, be it learning or physical, including some of them are homeless people.

30% of the girls and women interviewed never had the opportunity to attend school. In the other 70%, the majority stayed in school for less than two years and did not finish pre-class, they dropped out due to learning disabilities and health problems. Only one girl managed to enter high school but dropped out because of the extreme poverty that hit her after her father's death.

Up to 20% of women globally live with a disability. Girls and women of all ages with any form of disability are generally among the most vulnerable and marginalized of society. Moreover, women and girls with disabilities are 2-3 times more likely to be victims of physical and sexual abuse than women without disabilities. In addition “the global literacy rate for adults with disabilities is as low as 3 per cent, and 1 per cent for women with disabilities, according to a 1998 UNDP study” (UN DPI fact sheet).

Having a nice weekend class with children

Unfortunately, some pre-schools in Angola are open air and classes may take place under a tree, so when the weather is bad, classes are cancelled. This is the result of civil war that destroyed and looted many schools.

Globally, 263 million children between the ages of 6 and 17 are out of school, 61 million of which are of primary school age (6-11 years) *. More than half of the total figure live in Sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia. Girls with disabilities experience attacks and exploitation at much higher rates than other children. Both disability inclusion and gender equality are key factors in achieving including education as both gender and disability are significant factors of exclusion.

22% of the world’s poorest people have a disability. Women and girls with disabilities often face triple discrimination; being female, having a disability and being among the poorest of the poor. Women with disabilities face additional barriers to achieving their sexual and reproductive health rights.

Time to Sing - Faith and Hope

A moving tribute to our amazing gospel singer Filismina. She has been singing for us in many of our programs!

Meet our participants!

“We think the outside world does not really understand what the real difficulty is for women with a disability. This extremely vulnerable group continue to face exclusion from education and risks such as sexual violence - perhaps because they are seen as ‘helpless, asexual, and powerless’.

Therefore, we repeat again and again, for women with disability is really hard to live, so please include them.”

The heroines are here

Tonight, we are presenting a conclusion. If you would like to know more, please click on these links to watch the real and shocking stories of these girls and explore anything that catches your attention.

Webisode 1 - The history of Do Webisode 2 - The history of Lucia Webisode 3 - The history of Celina Webisode 4 - The history of Julia and her mother Webisode 5 - The history of Mima

By addressing the challenges faced by persons with disabilities in low and middle income countries, we not only achieve the human rights of persons with disabilities, but everyone benefits from their contribution.

This is why inclusion, across all development sectors, is important. Empowering persons with disabilities, including women and girls so they can receive a worthwhile education, access health and rehabilitation services, gain a livelihood and participate fully in society, is essential to ending the cycle of poverty and disability.

We sincerely hope that you will find more people to sponsor girls' education today. Your generosity and your gift will help children, adults, and families rise above adversity and thrive. No matter the amount, your donation makes a difference.

Have a great evening!

Thank you very much.