Dear Technovation participants, supporters, family and friends,
The past few weeks have been gut wrenching for so many of us as we have seen the Russian-Ukraine war escalate. Technovation is a small nonprofit that has always supported girls and young women to tackle injustices and to right wrongs in their communities. For many of the past 16 years, we have seen and experienced (through our girls) many horrific tragedies. But, this situation, like many other unfortunate conflicts across the geopolitical spectrum, is tragic because of how clearly wrong it is. We stand with Ukraine today and will tomorrow.
Our hearts are with the hundreds of Technovation girls in Ukraine who have been working to make their communities better, safer, more loving, and more accepting of one another. We are also thinking of the Technovation girls in Russia whose lives are constrained by the actions of others.
Technovation is not a front-line response organization, but we believe education and empathy are core to our survival as a planet and a people. The Technovation community has taught me that we are more alike than different. As our world faces illness, conflict, and the threat of climate change, we can choose to focus on empathy for our fellow human beings and show a willingness to accept them as family. Technovation girls have bravely tackled tough problems like the lack of justice for different groups of people and other living creatures. They have made progress addressing the various UN sustainable development goals in their particular communities. But, this year one goal is especially urgent—Goal no. 16: peace. And, each of us can play our role.
We cannot just watch the news. Each of us has the ability to take action and help. One way is to donate to nonprofits working to ease suffering on the ground. Here are just a few:
- Urgent Action Fund for Women’s Human Rights
- Voices of the Children
- Tabletochki
- Donor.ua
- Nova Ukraine
- Ukrainian Leadership Academy (ULA)
- UNICEF
- Kyiv Independent
The other way you can take action is to work with a team of Technovation girls and help them think deeply about what they can do to make the world better.
We CAN make a difference.
In a decade, when our children look us in the eye and say “what did you do to make a difference?”, I hope we can say that we did all we could to stand up for peace.
Tara Chklovski