Education: a key to freedom

It's easy to take education for granted, but did you know that 31 million girls around the world are not enrolled in elementary school? And yet, education is one of the most effective ways to change lives. Read Maureen's story to find out how

Taken by her stepfather to a village she has never been to before, Maureen is introduced to a man who speaks a language she doesn’t understand.

Saved from being sold

Maureen and her two younger sisters watch, horrified, as the man takes out a wad of money from his pocket and hands it to their stepfather.

Their stepfather, a man they thought they could trust, is cold-heartedly selling them.

Thankfully, the stranger is working with the police. The stepfather is arrested and the girls are returned to their mother.

Back home in their village near Lake Tanganyika in Zambia, a Freedom Challenge-supported ministry hears about the girls’ plight.

Unexpected opportunities

This ministry runs a school and training courses. Now the girls are receiving an education; many teen girls in this area do not get the opportunity to attend high school. They are often expected to marry at a young age and have children.

Not only are Maureen and her sisters learning traditional subjects like Math and English, they are enrolled in an afternoon program where they are learning to use a sewing machine.

Maureen has begun making and selling doormats. For the first time in her life she is earning her own money – she has bought a blanket and school shoes and is saving up to buy a bike.

The importance of educating girls

Investing in girls' education has a huge positive impact on communities – girls marry later, have children later, and spend 90% of their earned income on their families.

Our project in Zambia is building up a future generation of girls and women who can earn their own money and who will know their own worth.

But there are 31 million girls who don’t currently attend school and who will not have these opportunities unless we take action now.

We need your help to provide more teachers, more resources, and more schools like this one in Zambia.

Fullness of life

These projects are part of Freedom Challenge’s strategy to PREVENT exploitation – ending the cycle of poverty and oppression – and to DEVELOP opportunities for women to discover life in all its fullness.

Education really is a key to freedom.

$150 sets one woman or child on the path to freedom but any gift you give will make a difference and transform lives.

• 31 million girls of primary school age are not enrolled in school
• If all mothers were able to complete primary education, maternal deaths would be reduced by two-thirds, saving 98,000 lives
• If all women were able to have a high school education, child deaths would be cut in half, saving 3 million lives