Last summer, our Girls Learn International chapter set out with a mission to support girls in finding their own voices to lead their communities on issues they cared about. We organized an international public speaking webinar with Sierra Leone Rising, which helped us reach 40 girls in villages in Sierra Leone.
Even with nonprofit backing, internet barriers strained our capacity to communicate regularly, blurring the vision that had seemed so “doable” in writing. As students in well-resourced suburban towns, we had taken reliable internet access for granted.
Our surprise turned to anger: How could something so basic, so essential to daily life in the modern world, remain out of reach for so many school-aged children around the globe? In what world could a student in a small, remote village be promised equal opportunity without access to the digital tools other students take for granted?