The Girl Epidemic... Have you caught it yet?

Posted on 11th May 2012 by Scott Goodson in Blog

There’s a new virus spreading on the internet….it’s called The Girl Epidemic and it’s coming your way. The Mahindra Foundation USA through its project Nanhi Kali has once again succeeded in raising the plight of Indian girls by sparking a new Movement dedicated to raising awareness of the fact that millions – yes, millions - of young underprivileged girls go missing every year…with no questions asked.

But where have they gone? What’s happened to them? Sex slavery, infanticide, child labor….the new short video which has just gone viral may seem like a horrifying film trailer but this isn’t the stuff of Hollywood scripts, it’s the grim reality in a country where girls are routinely treated ‘like an infectious disease’.

But there could be a happy ending to this ‘movie’ – the cure is to educate these young girls. By making them valued members of society through education, it will help to spark a change against the deep-rooted social injustices currently in existence. The Mahindra Foundation is no stranger to controversy to get its Nanhi Kali Movements noticed, which all aim to give these girls 10 years of quality school education and academic support.

The Girl Epidemic is the big sister to its previous campaign, The Girl Store www.the-girl-store.com , which again turned our attention to the need for young girls to be educated with a site which, at first glance, looked like some sort of slavery market where you ‘buy a girl’. In fact, you were ‘buying a girl her life back’ through purchasing the learning tools she needs to go to school.

And the controversy has worked – Nanhi Kali is now helping 75,000 girls across nine states in India, with the aim of increasing that to five million girls in the next two years through fund and awareness raising.

So watch the video. Nearly 5,000 people already have on YouTube and it’s attracting more and more attention on gossip sites like Perez Hilton.

Yes it’s shocking and brutal – but I bet it gets you talking. Let’s all spread this epidemic as wide and far as we can.