Freedom Center and Dining for Women invite Greater Cincinnati families to celebrate U.N. International “Day of the Girl Child”
Open-to-the-public evening at the Freedom Center will feature international dinner and screening of acclaimed movie “Girl Rising”
Saturday, October 11, 5 p.m.- 9 p.m.
CINCINNATI – Greater Cincinnatians are invited to attend a limited-seating event at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, for a public screening of the movie “Girl Rising.”
The event, which is in celebration of the United Nations’ International Day of the Girl Child, is being hosted by the Freedom Center and Dining for Women, a national organization with chapters in Cincinnati. Dining for Women is dedicated to empowering girls and women worldwide to become self-sufficient.
“Girl Rising” tells the powerful stories of nine girls from different parts of the world who face heartbreaking injustices but demonstrate that through education, the strength of the human spirit can prevail. Narrators include Kerry Washington, Salma Hayek, Selena Gomez, Anne Hathaway and Meryl Streep. It is rated PG-13.
The international dinner will include recipes from the countries of the girls in the movie.
“It is impossible to see this movie and not think of Malala Yousafzai, the young Pakistani girl shot by the Taliban for demanding education for girls, or the plight of the kidnapped Nigerian girls,” says Clarence G. Newsome, PhD, president of the Freedom Center. “It’s inspiring to see the fight that even a small child can wage when she is determined to become educated and liberated.”
“Seventy-five percent of the world’s population living in extreme poverty are girls and women in developing countries,” says Jill Peirce, of Dining for Women’s Central Region. “Empowering them to help themselves could help solve many of the world’s problems. We believe many parents and teachers will want to expose their children and students to this uplifting and eye-opening movie.”
Participants will have the chance to meet people from various organizations that support justice for girls and women worldwide, and to talk with them during the reception and dinner about what individuals can do to help. Tara Abrahams http://girlrising.com/team/tara-abrahams/, president of Girl Rising and the movie’s producer, will be the keynote speaker during dinner. Dining for Women co-founders Marsha Wallace and Barbara Collins will be on hand, as will representatives from the Anchal Project, Bead for Life, Bond Street Theater and Ten Thousand Villages.
In honor of International Day of the Girl Child, students from the Cincinnati Arts & Technology Center are preparing a multi-media art exhibit in the style of artist Judy Chicago’s “The Dinner Party.” The exhibit will be premiered at the event, and the students are studying “Art as Social Commentary,” including girls’ and women’s issues, during the first semester of the 2014-2015 school year.
Event details
Tickets: Will become available starting August 8, until sold out. The link to purchase tickets will be at the Freedom Center’s website starting August 8. http://freedomcenter.org/