“There’s A Real Sense Of Sisterhood”: Arlo Parks On The Grassroots Projects Empowering Girls In Sierra Leone
A few words come up repeatedly as singer-songwriter Arlo Parks recounts her trip to Sierra Leone as a UNICEF Ambassador earlier this year. One is resilience. Another is change. And another – perhaps the most unexpected – is joy.
“Despite the immense challenges being faced in the country, so many of the girls I met were just really joyful, confiding in each other and excited to show me what they were working on,” says Parks. “Even in moments of real darkness, there was always that flip side. Light amidst the shade. That to me felt really inspiring.”
Parks travelled to the West African country in June – her first international trip with UNICEF UK as its youngest ambassador ever – with the goal of raising awareness and witnessing the work the agency is doing to help protect children’s rights on the ground.
Over the course of five days, she followed two UNICEF youth advocates, Ruth and Samesther, who have set up several projects to tackle issues such as sexual violence, menstrual education, teen pregnancy and child marriage.
“I was invited into different spaces where women and girls who had gone through traumatic experiences like sexual assault and child marriage could share their stories,” Parks recalls. “It was uplifting to see strong, beautiful bonds being formed between them, but also how those slightly older would act as mentors for the others.”
She also visited a reusable sanitary pad workshop created to sensitise girls about menstrual hygiene and sexual reproductive rights. “A lot of girls have to get money from fishermen to access basic products like pads, and they often do so by selling themselves,” Parks says. “The workshop’s mission is to give them agency over their bodies and empower them.”
The emphasis behind every initiative, she continues, was on enacting positive change and mastering strength – “resilience” in Parks’ words – in the face of suffering, so that others won’t have to go through those same things. “There was – is – a real sense of sisterhood and community among those girls and women,” she says. “They’re doing so much with really minimal resources, at a grassroots level.”
Sierra Leone has some of the highest rates of child marriage, teen pregnancy and maternal mortality in the world. According to a UNICEF report published in August this year, almost seven out of every 10 children are affected by child poverty, and three out of every 10 girls marry before they turn 18 (the number of child brides stands at around 800,000, with 400,000 married before turning 15). In addition, two out of every 10 girls aged 15 to 19 are pregnant.
In July, President Maada Bio of Sierra Leone signed the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act 2024, a historic legislation that has finally made it illegal to marry someone under 18. Still, female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) – a procedure that typically precedes marriage in some communities – continues to be widely practiced in the country, occurring mostly between the ages of 10 and 14 and affecting some 83 percent of women aged 15 to 49.
UNICEF’s presence and partnership with local entities including those established by Ruth and Samesther is key to improving the life quality of the nation’s girls and youth population at large. And having someone like Parks – a Mercury Prize winner, acclaimed musician and outspoken youth mental health advocate – talking about it is key to increasing public understanding outside of Sierra Leone.
“A lot of people don’t know about the good work that’s being done [in Sierra Leone], so I want to use my platform to shed light on it,” Parks says. “My hope is that advocates like Ruth and Samesther can find more support for their endeavours, from financial aid to better exposure. I want to believe that we’re working towards a world where women and young girls are properly protected.”
Parks’ initial point of entry into the charity space was through Calm (Campaign Against Living Miserably), a suicide prevention charity she started working with during the pandemic. She became involved with UNICEF in 2021, raising funds for the organisation while on tour and performing at the inaugural Blue Moon Gala, a star-studded fundraising event. Since then, she’s visited UK programmes for children and campaigned on mental health, going on to be appointed as the youngest ambassador of the UK Committee.
Activism is now something Parks is fully committed to. “Honestly, it sounds cliché but after seeing all these difficult things happening in the world, I’ve been thinking about how to use this weird, lucky experience I’ve had to do good. There’s such a long journey ahead, and I’m still very much learning, but I’d love to inspire other young people to feel like they don’t have to wait until they’re older to make a difference. Change is very much within reach.”
As for Sierra Leone, she says she wishes to visit again in the near future, to see the progress that’s being made.
“I spent a really vulnerable time with these girls,” she says. “We connected and shared music and laughed. Even though we came from completely different backgrounds and completely different spaces, there was this real camaraderie between us. So I really hope I get to go back.”
For more information and to donate to UNICEF’s life-changing work for children around the world, visit unicef.org.uk/donate
Marianna Cerini is a freelance writer for publications including Conde Nast Traveler, BBC Travel, CNN Style and Fortune
