My name is Alison. I am the vice president of programs at World Hope International, but what’s more important for you to know about me, especially today on International Women’s Day, is that I am wholeheartedly committed to empowering women. (Watch a video here.)
Over the years, my work in international relief and development has led me into the homes and lives of many different women from around the world. Women with calloused hands from working their fields hours before my first cup of tea, and women who long for a day where they can feel secure, outside the reach of an abuser. In those moments, it can feel hard to relate.
But I can. We all can.
Because on some level, we all understand fear, sacrifice, and loss. We all know what it’s like to feel uncertain about what’s coming next. Most of us have worried how to protect and provide for those we love. We’ve all experienced loss.
In those times, I pray that there was someone who reached out their hand to you. Someone who showed up for you. Made you a meal. Offered a prayer. Paid a bill.
Women all over the world are experiencing desperate moments. A girl in the Philippines was just told that she has to drop out of school and begin selling her body to tourists to help feed her family. A woman in Cambodia worries nightly about being beaten in her own home with no hope of intervention by anyone. And a child in Liberia was just taken from her home, sent to the city with her “auntie” for an education, only to find herself trapped in domestic servitude.
But you can empower these women and girls.
Today, on International Women’s Day, I ask that you empower someone close to you by:
•Lending a hand
•Listening to her story
•Reminding her that God has a plan for her life
For those women who live farther away, let us be your bridge! Make a gesture of grace fueled–not by your pity–but by your understanding. Oozing with pride and eager expectations for her to live her life to the fullest.
Print and share World Hope International’s #EmpowerHer sign on your social media accounts to showcase how you will personally #EmpowerHer, a female in your life or around the world.
Together, we stand strong. Empowered for good. Changing tomorrows!
