Surfers In A Dress 2015 Speech

Here's the speech Greg delivered to everyone who attended Surfers In A Dress on Saturday the 17th October 2015.

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Thank you. You’re all amazing to be here!

You might not all realise this, but you’re all here making a big difference.

You should be proud of yourselves.

We live in the most beautiful place in the world.
We are granted the opportunity to achieve whatever we set our minds to in life.
At a basic level, we have all had the privilege of getting an education.

But, not everyone is as fortunate as we are.
In fact, 66 million girls worldwide dont have access to education and this has an adverse affect on their lives.

And that’s the reason why you are all here today.

Education.
Empowerment.
Opportunities.
A positive future.

I’d like to paint you a picture of what it’s like to be a girl in a place like Sierra Leone, West Africa.

Imagine yourself as a girl living in Sierra Leone.

Imagine if your mother was sold to be married at the age of 14.
Imagine if who she married was 4 times her age. Yes, that could be around 50-60 years old!
Imagine if your mother gave birth to you when she was 15.
Imagine that you mother never had the opportunity to get an education because she was forced to marry and to have children.
Because of the lack of education, you mother wasn’t able to get a good job to support the family.
Your family barely has enough money to send one child to school, but because you’re a girl, you have less rights, so unfortunately you miss out from getting an education.

Now you’re 14.
Uneducated.
Your family sells you to be married to a 50-60 year old man.
And the cycle continues.

To be a girl in Sierra Leone isn’t pretty.

Now imagine if your mother had the opportunity to get an education.

Statistically speaking, in Sierra Leone, if a girl is educated:

• She’s 3 times less likely to contract HIV
• She’ll marry later and have fewer, healthier children
• For every extra year of schooling, her income will increase by 10-25%
• She’ll reinvest 90% of the money she earns back into her family

Now you’ll be born with an opportunity to get an education. And so will your family. And generations to come.

We’re here today to go surfing in a dress.
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To raise awareness that the small change we give today, can make a huge change to the girls in Sierra Leone.

We’re here in support of One Girl: a charity that provides education scholarships for these girls.

Because of you, Surfers In A Dress has since raised over $30,000 which has helped more than 100 girls get access to education.

This wouldn’t have been possible without your support, so on behalf of the Surfers In A Dress team, we thank you.

Now let’s go surfing in a dress!!!