Find your
bigger purpose
You have unique gifts, passions, and stardom.
You can be a star as a janitor, a software developer, a zookeeper, or anything you want to be. Being the star of your life doesn’t mean you ever step onto a stage or live a glamorous life. In fact, it could mean the exact opposite.
What would you say if someone looked in your eyes and asked for you to build a school. Could you also fill it with desks, chairs, and teaching supplies? Oh, could you also feed the kids and teachers every day?
Now imagine how it would feel if you said yes.
A few years ago, I was in a rural town of Uganda, and the community was looking for that exact thing. The cost to build it all? Five thousand dollars.
Five thousand. To permanently change the trajectory of hundreds or thousands of lives.
In my hometown, five grand was the cost of a crappy car. One that would wake up the neighbors if you turned it on at night.
If you wanted to, you could just swipe five grand on your credit card in less than two minutes.
As soon as I heard that number, my life was changed. My perspective was shifted forever.
We weren’t given gifts to live a comfortable life. We weren’t blessed with the privilege and capability to make money just for to buy the newest smartphone. We were given gifts and capabilities to give to those who couldn’t.
Giving back
It’s not enough to know what you need to do. So when I released my original album, “I Don’t Belong to You,” I partnered with Plan International. 100% of sales go towards stopping child marriages and female genitalia mutilation.
How will you use your stardom to make a difference?
CHILD MARRIAGE and FGM (Female Genital Mutilation)
Child marriage and FGM are serious human rights violations and harmful practices that occur globally. Worldwide, there are an estimated 650 million girls and women alive today that were married as children.
Most of them have been mutilated before they are married. Girls are forced into this dangerous practice where they drop out of school, are forced to have children of their own, and gone are their dreams of gaining an education, becoming teachers, healthcare workers, business owners and our future leaders. Girls married under age contribute to 90% of adolescent pregnancies. They are exposed to violence and are at a very high risk for potentially fatal health complications. If we don’t act now, over 150 million girls will become child brides before 2030.
The Power of Your Gift
- Provide education to boys and girls around reproductive health, gender equality and effects of child marriage,
- Create inclusive environments that encourage girls participation and give them a voice,
- Help educate governments on the adverse effects of child marriage and advocate for change,
- Provide sexual health services for boys and girls,
- Create awareness campaigns; develop youth groups where girls are setup as leaders and given the skills to become advocates in their communities,
- And help bring a strategic shift in external barriers that will give girls a voice and unblock their pathway to power and change.