Four stories to brighten your day
Thanks to amazing people like you, communities supported by Plan International are gaining the tools they need to ensure all children have a childhood filled with learning – and laughter.
When children get the chance to have a happy childhood, they can go on to become whatever they want to be. And when they're achieving their goals, we can start to take a step back, safe in the knowledge our job is done. The community can take it from here!
Your kindness means that children in 47 countries are being given the chance to simply enjoy their childhood. Read the stories below for a little boost of brightness!
Face of the future
Sixteen-year-old Gertrude is leading the fight for girls’ rights in Malawi. In a country where half of girls are married before they reach 18, and only 4% get to finish school, it’s a vital mission.
She, along with her friends, are members of Champions of Change, a Plan International programme that promotes the rights of girls and women in countries like Malawi.
Gertrude has been visiting the homes of girls who have dropped out of school. “Usually it’s because they have had a baby,” she says. "So far we’ve managed to get all the girls we have visited back to school.”
A new life begins
Support from her sponsor is giving nine-year-old Esther – and little sister Zoey – every chance to grow up healthy and happy.
Rural Uganda is a tough place to be a child, and disease is a constant threat. “There’s always one of us who’s sick,” says their mum, Thabita.
Esther is already having to work to help put food on her family’s table.
But thanks to people like you, medical support is improving and we’re training families to build toilets and grow nutritious plants.
The best way to learn
More than a quarter of children in Ecuador are being denied the chance of a secondary education. Instead of becoming whoever they want to be, they’re being forced into domestic work to support their family.
But thanks to the support of people like you, children whose families can’t afford to send them to school are now getting scholarships – and the chance to make their mark on the world.
You’re also making schools a more inspiring place to learn, by providing better equipment, furniture, and other essentials, to light the spark of a future where anything is possible.
Education changes everything
Money was so tight for Érika’s family that she often had to choose between eating or going to school. Aged 12, she almost gave up on her education to go to work. But a community worker helped her get a scholarship and now she’s applying to study medicine at university.
“Without the scholarship, it would have been impossible to continue my studies,” she says.
Education is power. And by remembering Plan International UK in your will, you can pass that power on to the next generation, giving them futures filled with possibility. Learn more.