[ti:Young UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Works to Promote Girls' Education]
[ar:Jerilyn Watson]
[al:Education Report]
[by:www.21voa.com]
[00:00.00]From VOA Learning English,
[00:02.09]this is the Education Report.
[00:05.08]Hannah Godefa is just 16 years old,
[00:09.43]but she is busy defending the right of all girls
[00:12.94]and women to be educated.
[00:15.43]The young woman serves as a national goodwill ambassador to Ethiopia
[00:20.79]for UNICEF -- the United Nations Children's Fund.
[00:25.09]And she is urging the UN to make a workable plan
[00:29.56]to end the discrimination that keeps girls out of classrooms.
[00:35.03]Last week, for example, she spoke in Geneva
[00:38.72]to the committee on elimination of discrimination against women.
[00:43.95]She talked about increasing girls chances for education
[00:49.51]and protecting them within education from sexual and other abuses.
[00:55.02]Hannah Godefa was born in Canada to Ethiopian parents.
[00:59.93]She was appointed to her UNICEF job in January of 2013.
[01:07.03]Since then, she has visited Ethiopia and other countries in Africa.
[01:12.54]She describes the purpose of her work as speaking out
[01:17.10]for the millions of girls who are not attending school.
[01:21.44]Hannah notes that some girls do not have a school available to attend.
[01:27.25]And there are other reasons they can not get an education.
[01:31.16]"Girls also face a lot of responsibilities that,
[01:33.80]I say, discourage them from attending school
[01:37.41]- lots of family responsibilities," Godefa said.
[01:39.40]The young UNICEF ambassador believes cultural barriers
[01:44.28]and economic considerations also limit girls' chances.
[01:49.02]Sometimes, parents must choose
[01:51.22]whether to send their boys or girls to school.
[01:54.86]Hannah Godefa says many families value girls as workers.
[02:00.51]"So, all the odds are stacked against them.
[02:02.86]That is why we have to target them
[02:05.10]and support them and protect them," Godefa said.
[02:07.24]Hannah became interested in children's education
[02:11.22]when she was only 7 years old.
[02:13.96]She was visiting her grandmother in rural Ethiopia at the time.
[02:18.60]Hannah became friends with a local girl
[02:22.20]and wanted to keep communicating with her when she returned home.
[02:26.93]But Hannah's parents told her that the other girls
[02:30.73]do not have pencils or paper to write letters.
[02:35.36]Their daughter reacted by establishing the Pencil Mountain project.
[02:39.75]She says the project has provided more than 500,000 objects
[02:45.64]including writing instruments for use in schools.
[02:49.48]"So, things beyond pencils, like other basic school supplies
[02:55.25]as well as text books for second-generation universities,
[02:59.22]some of the newer universities
[03:00.38]that have been constructed in Ethiopia, " Godefa said.
[03:02.62]The project has also provided wheelchairs for disable students.
[03:07.36]Nowadays, as a teenager, Hannah does a lot of public speaking.
[03:12.46]She spoke at the International Day of the Girl Child
[03:16.76]at UNICEF New York Headquarters in October 2013.
[03:22.49]She made the presentation a month before her sixteenth birthday.
[03:26.97]She also acted as moderator or leader at a UNICEF event last December.
[03:34.88]American singer Katy Perry accepted responsibilities
[03:39.56]as UNICEF's latest goodwill ambassador at that event.
[03:44.66]UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon
[03:47.75]was among world leaders attending the discussion.
[03:51.44]And that's the VOA Learning English Education Report.
[03:56.09]I'm Jerilyn Watson.
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