Who is a Changemaker?

During this session with Dr Maryam Alsada, we had very interesting discussions on how cultural norms could be a barrier to most women in their pursuit of education. I come from a homogeneous community and community where the majority of the population is Christian and so highly conservative. To date, issues like child pregnancies have been a rising factor in the reason for child marriages and female dropouts. Families value how their reputation would be destroyed if others found out that their daughters were pregnant and unmarried. So they would rather just marry them off to whoever the man is (usually a much older predator) than have them keep living in their home. 

The work I am passionate about tries to solve this problem. By providing sex education classes to young girls so they can hopefully protect themselves from men like these who capitalize on their vulnerability. As well as teaching boys to not be these men. But life happens, and if they do end up in this predicament, our classes also focus on empowerment to ensure that girls are able to stand on their feet and make a living out of their passions and skills. 

We spoke about how we easily dismiss the idea of labelling ourselves as “Changemakers” because small change doesn't always look like change, but it is. Most of us are already living lives that so many women in our communities only wish they had, that in itself is revolutionary change-making.