Circle of Sisterhood Foundation Continues Mission of Global Service

Ginny Carroll (right) makes a connection with Butler University student, Jessica Striebel. Ginny gives her t-shirt with logo and book, “Half the Sky”in hopes of inspiring Jessica’s sorority to support the education of women globally.

During the mid-1800’s era in America, women stood together for the right to go to college and have a better life for themselves and for their families. As a result, the sorority movement evolved. Now, 150 years later, a nonprofit organization called “Circle of Sisterhood” is asking sorority women to stand together once again to remove barriers to education for women, not only here at home, but also around the world.

“We want all women to have the privilege of receiving an education,” says Ginny Carroll, founder of Circle of Sisterhood. Ginny, who lives in Indianapolis, recognized that too many girls and women around the world did not have access to a quality education. Education is the answer to many of the global issues related to women, such as poverty, oppression, misogyny and brutality. Thus, more educated women leads ultimately to stronger and healthier families, villages, communities and countries. Ginny explains, “One person can make a small difference. But as a community of five million educated women, our collective efforts will be transforming generations to come.”

How Did Circle of Sisterhood Begin?

The catalyst for the creation of the Circle of Sisterhood was an interview on the Oprah Winfrey show with Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, authors of the book “Half the Sky”. These authors shared their firsthand accounts of women around the world who were subjected to violence and oppression solely because of their gender.

While watching the interview, Ginny realized, as a college educated woman, that she had a responsibility to do something to help girls and women around the globe get an education. While she knew she could not do this alone, she also knew she was well acquainted with a very large community of college educated women who she knew would help — sorority women. Ginny gathered a large group of sorority women, across affiliation, and asked that they join her in an effort to uplift girls and women from poverty and oppression.

Megan Johnson, a volunteer, shown with 3 girls she met in Tanzania while doing her doctoral dissertation on 1st generation women & their access to higher education. The girl who snapped this photo had never taken a picture before.

On April 19, 2010, five months after the Oprah interview, the Circle of Sisterhood was established, and in September, this organization was granted 501c3 charitable status by the U.S. government. Then in December 2010, Ginny received a call from the Oprah show and is hoping to one day soon bring their message of the power of educated women educating women around the world to the OWN Network.

Accomplishments So Far:

Within its first year, the Circle of Sisterhood Foundation has provided these grants:

  • Three years of schooling for 38 girls in Tanzania (includes tuition, uniform, workbooks, pencils,
    and other school supplies)
  • One full year at one of the best boarding schools for one deserving student in Zambia (includes
    room, board, uniform, supplies, etc.)
  • Braille books for the library of a home for blind girls in Ethiopia (38 volumes in a variety of
    subjects and in a range of grades)
  • Math tutor for girls in the indigenous rural highlands of Peru. (The people of this area live in
    extreme poverty and this tutor will help the girls stay in school.)

The trustees (board members) of this worthy foundation are mostly from the northern side of Indy, including Carmel and Fishers, and others reside in Lafayette, IN; Seattle, Dallas and Raleigh.

Ginny ponders on the recent grant for 38 girls in Tanzania to receive three years of schooling. “This remarkable opportunity for these girls will transform their lives. Their village will never be the same… this will have a dramatic, positive influence on their future and that of their family.”

Please visit www.circleofsisterhood.org if you would like to make a donation or learn more about this worthy foundation.

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