On Wednesday night, We Will Rise: Michelle Obama's Mission to Educate Girls Around the World premieres on CNN. We Will Rise comes to us from the same team that developed the film Girl Rising three years ago, which followed nine girls from developing countries on their quest to follow their dreams.
We Will Rise focuses on one of the most important tools to help girls around the world take charge of their own lives: education. We forget that in some parts of the world, girls have to sacrifice so much to get to school, while others can only dream of weekly spelling quizzes and uncomfortable school uniforms. Getting an education is truly a privilege.
First Lady Michelle Obama has been a fearless advocate for girls around the globe who are fighting for the right to education. FLOTUS' Let Girls Learn Initiative campaigns for female equality and empowerment in developing countries, where certain cultures and customs prevent girls from receiving the proper education that they deserve. Let Girls Learn (and Her Campus) recognize that there are over 62 million girls worldwide who do not have access to education. 62 million girls who risk becoming victims in a cycle of poverty and violence. 62 million girls who just want to learn.
In an article for CNN, Michelle Obama wrote, "A few years ago, when I had the honor of meeting Malala Yousafzai, who was shot in the head just for trying to go to school, this issue got really personal for me."
The film chronicles her travels, along with celebrities Meryl Streep and Frieda Pinto, to Liberia and Morocco, where they met many school-aged girls. In discussing their dreams of being doctors and teachers, the first lady wrote, these girls revealed the adversity they faced in trying to get a good education—from dangerous commutes to school and families suffering from poverty to cultural pressures to be married and have children. We Will Rise places the viewer as characters in these girls' stories, in order to understand the difficulties they face every day to get something most of us take for granted.
CNN Films' We Will Rise: Michelle Obama's Mission to Educate Girls Around the World premieres Oct. 12 at 9 p.m. on CNN.