Girl Matter by ChannelGood: Part I

I don't even know where to begin about today. But I guess I can start by saying that Girl Matter is easily the coolest thing I've ever dipped my feet into. If you didn't click the link, here is the description used for the project:

A volunteer project of ChannelGood Advocacy Communications, Girl Matter is a 3-part program for young girls who have suffered a history of abuse. It aims to provide inspiration, restore faith in possibilities, and break the limitations imposed by their situations.

Before leaving for the Philippines, I knew I'd be doing some work with Girl Matter. I was first introduced to the project by my mom's cousin living in California (thanks, Aunt Joy!). She knew I was looking to volunteer and referred me to Chely, one of the founders of ChannelGood & Girl Matter. After getting in touch with Chely, she told me a little bit more about Girl Matter and how I could get involved...

Just a bit of a background, there are 20 girls at the moment in the Safehouse, aged 12 to 21. They are all survivors of human trafficking, with most having been sold by  their own parents. Tragic as it may be, these girls have shared UNBELIEVABLE BEAUTY by talking about forgiveness and moving on. We know that all these don’t come easy so Girl Matter aims to give a little push in terms of rebuilding their self-worth and planting seeds of entrepreneurship in their young minds and hearts.

One of the projects the girls would soon be starting was part of their "Visioneering" theme. They are being asked to create their own "[Insert name here] 2023" presentations in order to help them establish goals for themselves and a hypothetical plan as means to achieving those goals.

So today, along with two other women, I presented my own Visioneering PowerPoint called "Rachael 2023." Following the format established, I created a 20-slide PP showing where I was "now" (2023) and gave a little background as to how I got "here." (For those interested, you can check put my PowerPoint here. The slides don't really have words on them because I was speaking so the order of the pictures may not make sense, but just thought I'd include it in case you wanted an idea of what the projects look like.) One other speaker was a 24 year old teacher name Isa who started a project called "The Good Story Project." She shared the idea that our lives are all stories and that we should work together in order to keep writing better stories. Isa works with girls during the workshops she sets up and they all focus on a topic to discuss and support each other as they work to create "better stories." The third speaker was a middle-aged woman who started a social enterprise called Rags2Riches.

The eco-ethical business model originated in 2007 in Payatas, one of the Philippines’ largest dumpsites and home to 12,000 families. An informal cottage industry of rug-weavers grew from the many women who developed a means to earn a living by scavenging the waste to find and recycle scrap pieces of fabric so that they could participate in handicraft production like rug and rag weaving, while taking care of their children at home. Over time, the industry became exploited by a series of middlemen who controlled both the supply of scrap fabric and the women’s access to the market, which created an unfair value chain for the women who at the end of the day earned only pennies per finished product.

Rags2Riches Inc. was created to provide these women with fair access to the market and the formal economy, as well as with additional skills-based, financial and health training so that they can maximize their career potential and take steps towards long-term financial and personal well-being.

By the time each of us had finished presenting, I noticed that all of our speeches were themed around dreaming big and not being afraid to just pursue our dreams. A good message, if you ask me.