As we celebrate International Women's Day this year, we're shining a light on hidden gems - the unsung heroes making a difference in their communities and beyond.
The Mamie Martin Fund has been supporting girls' education in Malawi since 1993. We were delighted when they put forward their Country Director, Mercy, to be featured as part of our celebrations.
Let us introduce you...
A role model for 133 girls across 7 schools
Mercy is the Malawi Country Director of The Mamie Martin Fund. She runs all the business of our NGO in Malawi. She visits each of our girls once a term – this school year we support 133 girls across 7 schools, so this is no small undertaking for Mercy. When her youngest son was little, she used to take him with her on school visits. This delighted the schoolgirls but, more importantly, provided important role modelling for them.
They could see that Mercy could be a professional woman and a mother too.
She advises our Board on how things are in Malawi and what extra needs or challenges arise. We are always guided by her advice.
Mercy grew up and still lives in North Malawi. She went to school and to university, though struggled with money for her fees all the way through her Education degree studies.
She is passionate about girls’ education in a country where girls don’t have an equal chance at education.
One of her most powerful explanations of that is one of our earliest videos of her, which you can watch here.
Mercy is an honest, reliable individual who loves to bring about change and meaning in somebody’s life by making them realise that they can reach as far as their dreams can take them, no matter what background they are coming from.
This year's theme for International Women's Day is Accelerate Action. We're proud to be a women-led network made up of hundreds of women who are working tirelessly toward greater gender equity across the globe.
Whether they're equipping more girls to attend school, like Mercy and The Mamie Martin Fund in Malawi; enabling women's economic empowerment through self-help groups in India; or supporting girls and women in Nepal to make informed decisions about their health, we are surrounded by incredible women doing incredible things.
Mercy is just one of them. We're grateful to The Mamie Martin Fund for helping us celebrate her - and the 133 girls she empowers - this International Women's Day.
Got a story you'd like to share with us? We'd love to hear it. Just send us a few details and we'll be in touch.