An awesome guest post by our good friend @NiamhHughes. Thanks for sharing with us Niamh!
Girls Who Rock is an epic concert taking place this Friday in NYC (but has a global presencevia UStream) supporting She's the First, a non-profit helping girls in the developing world be the first in their families to graduate. This Friday, June 10th the strongest voices in technology, entertainment, and design will come together under one roof (at Gramercy Theater), to fundraise for girls’ education worldwide and more specifically the sponsorship of 42 girls at the Arlington Academy of Hope in Uganda. To answer the FAQ, Why not the boys? Because of the 130 million youth out of school in the world, 70% are girls.
In Uganda, only 23% of school girls will make the jump from primary school to secondary. That means that out of a classroom of 35, only 8 girls will enter high school -- so when John and Joyce Wanda, an American couple, wanted to make a difference in their home country, they knew exactly which area to target. The couple formed Arlington Academy of Hope (AAH), a not-for-profit organization to help children in rural Uganda to reach their full potential.
Aside from this concert having a bad ass line up, a special robotic guest will host the show!!
Data is an aspiring robot actor, best known for his standup comedian exploits at the TED conference series and on stage in Brooklyn. Data caters his jokes, animation level, and interactivity to audiences using online learning techniques. Data was created by roboticist Heather Knight, who runs the Marilyn Monrobot company. He’s working on an extensive repertoire of robot pickup lines and enjoys engaging in banter on Twitter and long walks on the beach. Just keep him away from the water. If you're not in NYC, worry not, as you can sponsor up to 42 girls in Uganda with a donation online via CauseVox. You can give as little as $11 to honor a grad in the Class of 2011, and pay it forward for a girl in Uganda to reach that same graduation milestone. You can also watch the show live on Ustream at 8:30 pm (EST), Friday, June 10th, 2011. Get your tickets for GIRLS WHO ROCK, featuring Sister Sledge, JoJo, Nikki Jean, KimberlyNichole, Eddy, with DJ Kiss and emcee Touré, with special guest Data the Robot at girlswhorock2011.eventbrite.com. Please also share this with your own networks - spread the word!!