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Oct 5, 2014
"Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle. And so we must straighten our backs and work for our freedom." --Martin Luther King, Jr.
A Humanitarian's 4 Decades Long Adventure In Africa
When 24-year-old Molly Melching traveled to Senegal as an exchange student, she felt so at home that she decided to stay on after her program ended. Over the next forty years, Molly founded and continues to run Tostan, a non-profit organization turning the traditional model of social development on its head. Rather than short-term, top-down approaches, Tostan uses a holistic three-year, non-formal education program that has already had incredible successes, among them the abandonment of female genital cutting. Molly shares: "Our participants discuss questions like, 'Does everybody really have the right to be free from violence?' If they decide that's true, then there are certain practices in the community that may threaten that right. Then it's about giving the space for dialogue and discussion, allowing the change to come from within."
BE THE CHANGE
Find an organization that takes a long-term perspective and works from within communities to facilitate social change. How can you support these service men and women?
