I spent yesterday afternoon with Macintosh in West Point to visit the families of the girls I work with. The 75,000 people here fight a daily battle against poverty and endemic problems, including overpopulation and diseases such as HIV and tuberculosis.

West Point is a big maze of alleys and super small houses about 1.5 meters by 2 meters that are made of corrugated iron and wood; they are built without any foundation. The farther you go inside the more you will be swallowed up by corrugated iron, waste, human feces and the smell that goes with it. Many people are ill with malaria and other infectious diseases.

In addition to disease and poverty, sexual abuse of women and children are the order of the day. The oppression and abuse of women, which was fed by the rebels during the civil war, continues even after the end of the war and despite the best efforts of the government.

I still haven’t found the words to describe my feelings, but I’m very proud of all the girls who are “trying small small” to make a living without money, social support, a place to sleep, and broken families.

Although overwhelmed with sadness and at a loss for words, a smile says it all. A smile? Yes!! While dancing, singing, and playing games, we smile and laugh and have a lot of fun. A smile can say more than a thousand words. There are smiles of love, happiness, comfort, friendship. Smiles of compassion, support, hope and they make us feel special and loved.

As a volunteer for More than Me on the ground in West Point, I don’t have the intention to change the world. But by giving counselling to the girls, I try to work on improving their self-esteem, social skills, help them cope with feelings, or sometimes I just listen and we smile or cry a bit. Some girls have behavioural problems and difficulties concentrating at school because of their home situation. One of the girls just moved to her grandmother’s house because her mother used to invite men into the little girl’s bedroom for a small fee.

In an ideal world, I would like to solve all of their problems. But that is, unfortunately, just impossible. Meanwhile, I’m just trying to increase their quality of life little by little, or “trying small” as they say here in Liberia. Some days, when I’m overwhelmed with feelings, I like to think that even a small ripple in the water can be far-reaching.

More than Me is proud of our staff on the ground in Liberia. Macintosh, our lead worker in West Point, makes regular visits to all of our girls, their parents or guardians, and the school. This is just one of the ways that we make sure our donors’ money, our volunteers’ time, and our girls’ education are actually moving things forward. Tracking our work is important, but it doesn’t always fit nicely into a spreadsheet, and even when it does, the results aren’t quite what you’d expect.

When collecting progress reports, in what column do you put, “slept behind a video club five nights last week”? How do you sort, “only fed during school lunches” and “mother very sick, must take care of six siblings, often late to class”? It took a lot to get our girls into school, but sometimes it seems like the hardest part is making sure they can succeed against the odds once they are there.

We just received a new report from Macintosh, here is a sample pasted directly from his email:

Names                       Conduct                         Class Participation                    Tidiness

Maima  _______   Good  ___________   Excellent       ___________  Neat in class

Massa  _______   Good  ________          Excellent       ____                     Neat in class

Theresa  ______   Fair    ____________Improving  ______                  Neat in class

Hawa     _______ Fair    _______            Satisfactory    ___________  Neat in class

Mini  ________   Good ___________Need more study    _________Neat in class

Jessica  _____   Fair    ___________Excellent        ______________  Neat in class

Beatrice   ______   Fair   _________Not improving   ______________   Neat in class

Lovettee  _____   Fair   ________Need more study   ______________   Neat in class

Philipmina  ______Good ________Satisfactory       ______________    Neat in class

Monica    ________   Fair   _____ Need more study ____________     Neat in class

[...]

Grace  _______  Good  ______Excellent               _____________   Always neat

Abigail _______   Good ________   Satisfactory          _____________    Always neat

Mama  ______   Fair ___________Improving            _____________     Always dirty

Janet    _______  Good __________Satisfactory         _____________     Always neat

Naomi  ______    Good ________Satisfactory       ______________    Always neat

Benetta    _______    Good __________ Satisfactory       ____________Always neat

Elizabeth  _____    Good ___________Improving     _____________     Always neat

Princess   _____    Fair     __________ Improving         __________      Always neat

[...]

Antoinette  _____    Good ______Satisfactory            ___________          Neat in class

Regina  ________   Good ______Excellent                ___________           Neat in class

It seems pretty simple, right? Consider this: to show up “neat in class” our girls must have a completely clean uniform, clean socks, and shoes in good condition, but this is easier said than done in a place with no running water, a place where the water for laundry comes from the same beach people openly defecate on, a place that, in 2009, the Water and Sanitation (WASH) Consortium found only four actual toilets to serve almost 80,000 people. In the past, a few of our students have been turned away upon showing up for school because their uniforms were dirty or they didn’t have their school shoes. In these conditions, it is no small triumph that almost all of our students received a “neat in class” review. When one of our girls isn’t showing up to school with her books and uniform, we make sure that our staff spend extra time finding out why. Sometimes, the reason is simple- kids get dirty, kids play after school- sometimes, though, there are problems that go beyond shiny shoes and clean socks.

We can’t know everything about our girls’ lives, about what they have been through and what they live each day, but we can do our best to support them and provide resources when we see issues developing. The schools don’t provide health reports for us, which is one reason regular visits are integral to our program. We form relationships with our girls precisely because we care about more than grades and school reports; sometimes the things that are hardest to quantify are the most important. For example, Antoinette, one of our star students, was recently so sick she had to be hospitalized. For her, or anyone for that matter, to bounce back and do as well as she is doing in school is truly inspiring.

Health and safety aren’t measured in columns on report cards, but they do show up in the kids’ grades. Macintosh recently wrote that, “children get sick and die most often here in West Point because their parent[s] do not have money. Any of the More than Me kids that get sick I always rush them to the hospital for treatment.”

Between our school reports, our regular visits, what the girls share with Macintosh and Katie, and what we can read between the lines of all of this, we are able to track our students’ progress. Is this an exact science? No. Does it provide results? Definitely. We see it in each “neat for class” and “improving” review from the school principal; we see it in the proud looks and stories told by parents; and we see it in smiles of our girls who have never been happier to be in school.

So, the numbers don’t mean shit.

The estimated 75,000 inside this tin hole of huts, the number of dead kids this year, the number that never get out, the number that didn’t eat today and don’t know what they’ll eat later, the little girls that will have to sell themselves, it just doesn’t matter.

The little 3 and 4 year olds are tugging on my pants, and laughing at “white man,” as they call me, and the numbers just don’t matter. Here’s what matters right now: I’m holding a little boy who isn’t well. His big haunting eyes are looking directly into mine, and I don’t even know what to say. Pus is coming out of his eyes, and there’s obvious malnourishment, his mom looks walks over, glassy eyed.  An old man looking on says that mommy dried up, so the boy is sick.  I don’t know what to do.  I tear up as his mom takes him back.  I want to just cry for a minute.  Katie joins us and calls over Macintosh, who will try to find the boy tomorrow in the maze to get him to a medical office.  Mom doesn’t have any money for meds even if the doctor knows what is wrong.

We toured this shantytown, laughing with the kids, Katie dancing around like a nut. There’s so much laughing and I can still see the one kid who just couldn’t catch her breath she was laughing so hard at us crazy white people.  Good stuff.  I can still see us there. We’re walking down the ally now, the 3 or 4 kids we just bought ice cream for quickly turns into 15 kids.  The treats are less then 25 cents each.  We finally say, “no more,” and one of the latecomers is staring at me.  I give him what is left of my ice cream, and he jumps for joy!

Looking around, I see Katie talking to one of the moms whose kid is doing well in school.  And here comes a few of More than Me’s kids in their uniforms, looking cool and proud.  They seem happy. They met us earlier in the day, and seemed to really be having fun in school.  They raised their hands and ran to the board to finish a math problems.  These are some of the 25 percent of the kids that live in West Point who had an opportunity to go to school today. Crazy day.

When we got home, Katie asked me how I was, and I just said that I needed to be alone and cry a little bit, then I’ll be ok.

How can we help, what’s the best way to get our mission done? The numbers are daunting. They don’t mean a thing down here.

What started in the early 1900s as a movement for labor rights and suffrage in Europe has become an event officially recognized by governments around the world. The day has served as a spotlight for various issues, but today, March 8th, International Women’s Day (IWD), remains an important tool for bringing attention to women’s achievements, issues, and challenges. As an organization that focuses on girls, was founded by women, and that functions by pulling in ideas, volunteers, donations, and support from all over the world, we believe that this is a day worth celebrating. This year’s theme is “Connecting Girls, Inspiring Futures.” Our mission at More than Me is to do that everyday.

There are a lot of great resources online about IWD, its history, and events happening around the world today. Check them out.

For various reasons, notably the history and politics around IWD, the day has been embraced with more gusto in the developing world than in the West. According to the IWD website, the day is officially celebrated by Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, China, Cuba, Georgia, Guinea-Bissau, Eritrea, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Madagascar, Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Nepal, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Vietnam and Zambia.

In many ways, it is not surprising that these countries officially celebrate IWD. Women are on the front lines of the changes happening in the developing world.

The World Bank issued a report this week showing that poverty in the developing world has actually declined in the last few years. We have seen this first hand: the streets of Monrovia improve with each visit, sometimes in the form of a new shop, sometimes as a street light. Despite world-wide progress, women and girls are all too often denied an education, fare wages, freedom from an early pregnancy, and, more generally, the ability to make their own choices. Some of this is because of culture and tradition. For example, in Afghanistan there are more girls enrolled in school than any time in the past twenty years, but attitudes toward educating girls are changing slowly and it is difficult to find teachers who will allow girls in the classroom. One official holiday doesn’t make up for systemic discrimination and lack of opportunities the 364 other days of the year.

In many places, including Liberia, where More than Me works, education and health for women are celebrated, but lacking. And indeed, even in the U.S., where the highest levels of power have been broached, women face different, but no less serious, issues.

So what can you do? If you can’t or don’t want to attend an event, you can share a story, donate to an organization that works with women or girls, and post the link to our girls’ profile pages on Facebook. The problem with “awareness” days is that often times the day itself takes attention away from the cause it rightfully wants to promote. IWD is about celebrating, learning, and setting goals.

This March 8th, try to read an article about girls’ education and remind a friend or co-worker that today is International Women’s Day. Little things add up. Sometimes people say, “you only have 100 girls in school?” Yes. 100 girls in school affects their parents, their brothers and sisters, their neighbors, and their collective future. In the same way, sending an article to a friend, posting one of our girl’s profiles to Facebook, and just spreading the word might entice someone to repost the link, volunteer, and maybe even donate.

Do something this March 8th. It’s not about the day. It’s about the things we can do together.

A few weeks ago, Katie got a message from Macintosh, MtM’s staff on the ground in West Point. Antoinette, one of the brightest girls in our program, “fell off,” he told her.

“She did not die.”

“What do you mean, ‘fell off?’” Katie asked.

This is a typical story for a lot of the children in More than Me’s program. It is part of our story as an organization- maybe you’ve heard us mention, “getting girls off the street and into school.” Not every child in our program has to deal with being separated from her family or friends, but all of them have grown up in an environment that constantly puts them at risk and where, because of cost, access, and accountability, they are denied an education. Often times, things are often more complicated than just “getting girls off the street”; there is more to the story.

We have written before about the hurdles facing the girls in our program, how success is measured in small increments, but sometimes the most difficult moments come months or even years after that first day of school.

One of the kids in our program was caught stealing. The child was doing well in school, has been with More than Me for almost as long as More than Me has been around, and has a warm relationship with all of us. This wasn’t the first time it happened, but instead of candy it involved money, electronics, and a shattering of trust. The child’s grades have started slipping. As the child approaches her teenage years, she has grown angry and less affable- who can blame her?- but we must do something. We know she can do well in school because we have seen it in the past.

What can we do? More than Me is different than most non-profits because we are founded on relationships. We are not a logo or a celebrity spokesperson or a provocative video. We have pooled together supporters through talks, social media, and small meetings. In Liberia, we know all of our girls personally. We have been to their houses, we know where their family is from, we know their parents or guardians, we know the children’s stories, their hopes and dreams. As an organization that wants to make the most of our generous donor’s support and run an efficient and accountable program, we know we cannot put money toward education if no education is being had. We also know what will happen if a girl is not in school, not working toward something more than selling peanuts or herself, and we know the potential of all of the children in our program.

This question, “what can we do?,” is one reason we are working to build a safe house. Still, that goal is almost a year away, so in the near-term we need something else.

All of the donations made to More than Me go toward a girl’s education. In some cases though, when a girl wants to go to school, but is not doing well and is having issues outside of school that affect her performance in the classroom, we look for creative ways to keep her off the street and make her future bright.

One of the most inspiring examples of this is Abigail, who after running away from home and struggling in class is now in a boarding school and at the top of her class. In other cases, like stealing, we have our field staff  jump in. Daily visits have led to vocational training, a new place to stay, and a new direction.

Many of the girls More than Me works with have similar stories, but all of them are different, dynamic, and driven. We are not a cookie cutter non-profit, and we want to provide creative ways to help the girls of Liberia. So many people have given up on the girls in our program; they have been failed in so many ways. Our recruitment and vetting process is designed to avoid future difficulties in the classroom, but we know that our girls deserve a real chance.

Bad grades? Trouble with family? Anti-social behavior? Don’t call it failure. Each girl’s story is still being written. Work-training, boarding school, mentorships, daily visits. By coordinating with community members, our field staff, and parents and guardians, we are making sure that these girls really do get off the street and, yes, into school.

What do you live for?
Everything. I am owner of Girl Friday PR, with clients in NASCAR and women’s professional sports.  I’m a yoga instructor, passionate marathoner & Chi Runner, Charlotte Rollergirls Roller Derby girl.  My biggest job: mom to two little “Pistol Annies,” Maizie and Willa.

What are you passionate about?
Life. Change. Veganism and healthy holistic living. Motivating and inspiring others to love something, to turn on the light bulb and make positive changes.  Being fearless.  Environmental conservation. Women’s rights and empowerment.  Education. Freedom for all sentient beings. Did I leave anything out?

How did you hear about More than Me?
I boarded a plane from Newark, New Jersey to Charlotte – one that I had upgraded to try to get home early to my girls, but which ended up leaving about the same time my original flight would have left.  I sat down a little downtrodden after a long business trip, when lo and behold, who sits next to me? Katie Meyler, founder of MoreThanMe.org.  We chatted  about everything from veganism to Title IX, and everything in between.

What struck me most was that she was so passionate about these girls in Liberia, and, being in PR, I knew that she would be successful in telling the story.  We’re all storytellers in life – and those who want to impart change must be the soothsayers who not only tell the story to the masses, but also “turn on the light” in someone’s heart to make them feel that same plight and want to change the outcome.  After a two-hour flight, my bags were all but packed for Liberia.  I will be making the trek to Africa this summer with the team!

What does More than Me mean to you?
Hope. It’s that simple.  I just finished reading an excerpt from Al Gore’s 2007 Nobel Peace Prize lecture, and in it he makes a plea for us as a society to come together.  As they say, rising tides sail ships – so one person may be able to be a change agent- but it’s up to the rest of us to become enlightened enough inside to see a picture and not just open our wallets. It is up to us to live the change.  Katie lives her change with More Than Me.  As a yoga instructor, I’ve learned that touching one life actually touches everyone in that one life’s circle.  Life has a bigger meaning than iPads, texting, material goods and looking important.  For the 21st Century, our best chance is to dive into service to others.  I see that wholeheartedly in the mission of More Than Me.

Why do you care about helping girls get to school that you never met?

I attended my first More than Me event almost three years ago. It was at a bar in D.C.’s Dupont Circle, there were drink specials, a few t-shirts were sold, and some friends of a friend were playing in a band that performed. It reminded me of a college party, but with more charity and less bad dancing.

Almost three years have gone by; More than Me has changed and our events have changed. Instead of six kids in school, we now have 100. We have a school lunch program, a rec program, and now we are shooting for something even bigger: a safe house.

Next weekend, on January 28th, in New York City, More than Me is teaming up with online giving marketplace, Givology, to throw our biggest event ever: A Night of Promise.

A Night of Promise will feature live music, an open bar, DJs, and an opportunity to win really cool prizes, like a night in a helicopter with Prince Lorenzo Borghese! Manhattan’s Marquee nightclub is hosting, and some of the top names in media and charity will be there.

Will you have fun? Obviously, but more importantly, because the event is sponsored by Bicardi, Wadka Vodka, and Radeberger Pilsner, almost every single dollar of the ticket price and any other money we raise will go directly to More Than Me’s, “Promise Project,” which will fund a safe house, health classes, and other after school activities for our girls.

The girls in Liberia have been doing awesome (10% are first in their class), but after school they go back to the street and it is dangerous; they are at an extremely high risk of sexual exploitation. We are building a safe place for them where they will have tutors, a social worker, and where they will learn trades like sewing and gardening. January 28th’s Night of Promise is about having fun, but it is so much more than that! We hope you can come, but if you can’t make it please consider making a donation to the Promise Project.

Our goal is to raise $40,000, which would mean life or sexual exploitation for many of these girls. Tickets for admission are available for purchase at the event website, www.anightofpromise.com. Tickets cost $50 before the event, and $60 at the door. It’s not often that we can have a great time AND have a direct positive effect on someone’s life. A Night of Promise is a chance to do just that.

One of the interesting things about More than Me is that we have always operated through a broad network of volunteers. Although we can no longer say that we are a volunteer-run organization, most of the day-to-day grant writing, event hosting, get-out-the-vote messaging work is handled by supporters who want to do something worthwhile in their free time.  This is the first in a new series for the blog, Volunteer Spotlight, where we ask one of our volunteers five questions. Today, we introduce Joei, a volunteer that helped More than Me win $25,000 in the Chase Community Giving contest. Joei wrote letters, emailed friends, and lobbied her parents’ friends to spread the word about the contest, the girls in Liberia, and how to help.

What is your name?
My name is Joei, and I am 11 years old.

Why are you so motivated to help little girls get to school in Liberia?
Because an education is an important thing to have in life, and that is one thing that I learned and will never forget growing up. Whether you are finding a job or starting a new project, you need an education to accomplish your goals in life.

What does More than Me mean to you?
To me, More than Me means one specific thing: getting beyond thinking about your needs and realizing that there are children and adults out there that have a horrific life, and your life, no matter what rough patch you may think you’re in, is a luxury.

Do you have a dream?
My biggest dream would be becoming a doctor. Specifically, a pediatrician. This is for one main reason, I love helping and caring for people. My heart jumps for joy when I see that I have made another person happy, and that they have a smile on their face. All in all, I truly believe that these traits in me are what makes me want to help these young girls.

What do you want to say to other kids your age about their lives and how they can help too?
Most children my age don’t really realize how lucky they are. For example, a lot of my friends asked for an iPad or an iPhone for Christmas, including me. But, then I realized that these little girls in Liberia are lucky if they get a meal to eat on Christmas. I believe I have proven my point, most of us don’t realize how lucky we are, and there are many ways to help.

One way to help is by getting involved with a charity. For example, helping with fundraisers is a great way to make a difference. Another way to help is to have you and your family make a donation to the girls in Liberia. The money really helps them get an education that they deserve, and gives them a meal that they have been struggling for. With your help, the young girls in this suffering country in West Africa will have a decent life and a decent chance to succeed.

Thanks, Joei!

A few words from Joei:

If you would like to volunteer with More than Me, please send us an email through the Get Involved section of our website.

It was a hot day in the slums. Sweat poured down my face, the smell of feces burned my nose as I walked around asking young girls if they had any dreams. I met Angel.