Carmen’s love for sports inspired her to support girls’ education.
As a recent King’s College London (KCL) graduate, Carmen Bergot knows just how important it is to have spaces that elevate young women’s voices. As a teen, she found strength and community through playing high school sports and recreated that environment at college through founding the KCL women’s handball team. Fueled by a desire to support women and girls, Carmen began using her organising skills to fundraise for Malala Fund.
“I read Malala’s book when I was really young and I was really deeply moved by her story,” explained Carmen. “After a year of playing handball with [my] team, I wanted to explore new horizons, do new things, and when I talked to other people on sports teams, I learned that we could fundraise.” Malala Fund’s work to help girls’ education and uplift the voices of ambitious, bold young women resonated with her.
“Creating a women’s sports team was a way to remind us that all sports and physical activity is a way for women to emancipate. But the primary means of emancipation for women is education,” Carmen continued.
To help generate support for girls’ education, she brought her passions for physical activity and activism together. This included fundraisers at a group spin class and a trivia night. Carmen’s efforts raised over £500 for Malala Fund programmes.
When asked what helped make her fundraiser successful, Carmen said that making sure the event was fun and memorable was key to getting as many people involved as possible. She added: “There is so much emotion behind all of this — the sports team, the fundraising and supporting Malala Fund in particular. You do it with your heart… and if you are passionate, you work harder and you have great results.”
“Student fundraisers, like Carmen, are some of our most powerful allies in the movement for girls’ education,” said Dhanya Rao, Individual Giving Officer at Malala Fund. “We’re so grateful to work with such creative and thoughtful students like Carmen who are helping us build a world where every girl can go to school.”
Whether you are organising a spin class, running a marathon or hosting a corporate event, there are many meaningful ways you can bring people together to take action for girls’ education. If you are interested in learning more, visit our ways to support page or get in touch directly with our team via giving@malalafund.org.
