The Chopra Foundation and its Never Alone Initiative, partner with the tech-based social impact start-up, Seva.Love, and The Girl Generation to Launch FGM/C Campaign on this Mental Health Awareness Day

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 10, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- World Mental Health Awareness Day -- The Chopra Foundation, through its mental health initiative, Never Alone, and NFTs for Good start-up, Seva.Love, are joining forces with The Girl Generation – the world's largest collective of organizations working together to end Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C) – in a global campaign to end gender-based violence and empower those who are survivors or at-risk of FGM/C with the education, tools and mental-health resources to navigate and overcome the societal, emotional, spiritual and physical complexities of this issue.

FGM/C refers to the partial or total removal of external female genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons, and worse still, it is often performed without anesthesia or proper aftercare. It is estimated that more than 200+ million girls and women alive today have undergone FGM in 30 countries in Africa, the Middle East and Asia, and that 7 girls are cut every minute.

Dr. Leyla Hussein, Global Advocacy Director and Deputy Team Leader for The Girl Generation and FGM Survivor, shared that "this partnership is extremely critical as it demonstrates that: we will show up for African Girls, FGM is violence and leaves long life physical and emotional scars, and lastly, that we are ready for a Global movement that will end FGM."

Despite the nauseating frequency of this practice, FGM/C continues to live in the shadows and receives hardly any representation at the global level. This is what our collaboration intends to change, launching just in time for Mental Health Awareness Day (Oct 10^th) and International Day of the Girl (Oct 11^th) with a festival in Kenya, Africa intended to educate girls, women, men, change-makers and creatives from across five African countries on this issue. The event will also introduce them to the use of practices such as meditation, yoga, breathing, self-reflection and art as not only an outlet for pain, but also as tools for transcending traumatic experiences.

Dr. Chopra says it best: "FGM is a relic of barbaric times. There should be no tolerance for this procedure, and it needs to be a criminal offense wherever it continues to be practiced. The Chopra Foundation is committed to raising awareness around this brutal custom and eliminating it for all of time."

Alongside our on-the-ground efforts, the Chopra Foundation, Never Alone and Seva.Love will be deploying a long-term awareness and fundraising campaign over the next year intended to ignite a global dialogue around this issue, while simultaneously raising the funds needed to tackle it in a meaningful way by rallying the web3 community. Through this holistic approach, we intend to dismantle the structures that enable FGM/C to exist and to provide survivors and those at risk with the tools and resources needed to live safe, healthy lives now and for generations to come.

Poonacha Machaiah, CEO the Chopra Foundation and Seva.Love, asserted that "we must make every effort to eradicate this inhumane practice. Millions have already been traumatized by FGM, and this practice must end."

Actress, Humanitarian, and Never Alone Initiative co-founder, Gabriella Wright, reflected that "we owe it to our future generations to take care of each other NOW. Let's break this cycle of trauma for a global collective healing that can sustain humanity and the planet. Everyone matters in this journey."

The Chopra Foundation is a 501 (c) (3) organization (#36-4793898) dedicated to improving health and well-being, cultivating spiritual knowledge, expanding consciousness, and promoting world peace to all members of the human family. The Foundation's Never Alone movement will be providing the world with the tools to proactively pursue their path to joy and freedom from suffering. 

Seva.Love is the metaverse for wellbeing initiative that has been founded by technology entrepreneur Poonacha Machaiah and world-renowned pioneer in integrative medicine, personal transformation and NY Times bestselling author Deepak Chopra, MD. Seva.Love is championing wellbeing and social impact in Web3 by curating leading artists, influencers, wellbeing experts and creating conscious communities.

The Girl Generation (TGG)-Support to the Africa Led Movement to End FGM/C Programme (ALM), is a consortium led by Options Consultancy Services and includes Amref Health Africa, ActionAid, Orchid Project, Africa Coordination Centre for Abandonment of FGM/C and University of Portsmouth. It works closely with the Population Council's Data Hub, the programme's data and measurement arm. The programme envisions a world where girls and women can exercise their power and rights and have expanded choice and agency and be free from violence, including FGM/C. The programme is being implemented in four (4) countries in Africa - Kenya, Ethiopia, Somaliland, and Senegal.

SOURCE The Chopra Foundation