13 year-old Tessa Monaghan is doing what she can to help women and girls living in Afghanistan.
Monaghan has organized a fundraiser for Little Women for Little Women, an organization that supports education programs in Afghanistan with the goal of restoring human rights for women.
“I realized that I was lucky to be born in Canada in this day and age, and I go to a great school and there are girls in Afghanistan who don’t have those opportunities,” she described of her motivation to organize the fundraiser. “I feel real strongly towards them, and I wanted to do something to help.”
Monaghan’s fundraiser is a 5km walk/run at City Park on Sunday. She planned the event by herself, and after receiving encouragement from the Little Women for Little Women leader to pursue it, obtained the necessary permits from the City of Kelowna. Monaghan first did volunteer work for Little Women for Little Women at an event last year, and as she began to get more involved from that point had the thought that a walk/run would be a great fundraiser.
“I felt like it would be a good way to raise money, because I’ve been to other things like this before and I know that they usually do make a lot of money,” she explained. “Our event is different, because 100 percent goes to charity.”
The fundraising for the event will be done through registration, as it is $20 per person or $40 to register a family. With those numbers in mind, Monaghan would love to see the event raise $300 for the charity.
“Along with the other money that Little Women has raised, we train teachers, we pay their salaries and we buy mobile library kits for schools in Afghanistan,” she noted. “That means a lot to me because I know that I go to a good school and I have opportunities to learn, and they don’t. So I think it would be great to reach that goal.”
Registration for the event will begin at 10:00am, while the event itself will start at 11:30am. In addition to the walk/run, there will also be a band and face painting for children.
