Kym Mazelle
Plan UK have launched a campaign to give girls in developing countries a voice.Singer Kym Mazelle is one of the celebrities taking part in a silent carol concert in Trafalgar Square. We caught up with her to see how she got involved.
How did you find out about the ‘Girls Without Voices’ campaign?
Oddly enough it’s on the internet. As soon as you go online actually it pops up and it has been popping up for a while inadvertently and my agent brought it to my attention because I work with a young children’s group at my church, a young youth ministry.
I work with a lot of kids so she knows how I feel about the youth and everything so when she came to be about this charity and having a carol concert, basically as women representing the girls without voices with us not being able to sing or to speak, I thought I know how that feels. I immediately just said ok yeah put my name down.
What will your role be in the silent carol concert?
On the day I will be representing the girls that basically have no voice for their education or their future or their survival as human beings really because if you can’t speak up for yourself and if you're not educated enough to have the right words for your own defence, you are at the hands of life.
So, I am a very vocal person so for me to have to stand there and be quiet for 20 minutes is just like you know.
It must really be more painful for someone to not even have the words to speak yet because they are uneducated enough about everything except for anger bottled up inside and rage. I will just be standing there silent.
Do you think that when we have opportunities to have successful careers that other people can’t have, do you think it will make us stop and stop taking things for granted?
Well I hope it will make a lot of people stop taking things for granted but unfortunately for a lot of the new generation of fame they’re not even aware of this level of duty yet, except for as a PR stunt.
I have been involved with these things more deeper and I feel it from the heart and it is a shame that it is still going on in our world today and it’s very hard to tackle the problem globally.
Do you think this campaign is a step in the right direction to getting more women involved and getting people to take notice?
I think this campaign will put the spotlight on the problem even more, ‘tis the season to be jolly and all of that,’ I think that people will pay more attention to this group of women that will gather together because a lot of us have status in the industry, some are long standing in the industry, we have the credibility where people just take notice.
These girls don’t get an education and that is one of the main problems, what do you think your education has given you?
My education has given me a choice; it’s given me enough knowledge to feel better and how to get out of things when I get in trouble, given me a bit of a vocal to reach out to other places and if I can not make it myself to ask for help.
Some women without education are so afraid and so alone and so scared to speak up because they don’t want to feel stupid or exposed so I mean it’s a huge problem all over the world really.
It’s really really really a huge problem and especially in these countries where the girls are put into marriage so young and they give their bodies for a man’s pleasure or to raise children and to have more kids that will be hands on and work on the farm. It’s very unfair so I think education is so important.
Do you think the day will come when every woman in the world has a voice in society or do you think we are a long way off?
We have to start by the community, in the home and if you are able to have a voice in the home then it will spread to the community and from the community outwards so I think we have to start small really.
Where a young girl in a small village is respected enough that she gets to go to school not ‘oh your brother can go to school but you can’t’ or ‘you learn how to cook and clean and have children.’ No God put us on the Earth because we have a larger purpose.
Are you looking forward to the event and being a part of making a difference?
I am looking forward to it and I don’t know what to expect. It’s exciting; yeah I am looking forward to it.
I’m like lord you’re going to have to keep my mouth closed so I don’t start to sing, the carolling and rejoicing with the Christmas carols because I love Christmas carols, ‘chestnuts roasting on an open fire’ and all that but I will stand there and I will represent what I have to represent.
Do you do any other work for charities or campaigns?
I do privately.
Would you say this is a nice way to end your 2009?
I think this is a brilliant way to sum up my 2009.
Have you got any plans for 2010 to do any more work or are you just going to see how this goes?
Well we’ll see. I’m sure you will see me out there doing other things than just my career stuff.
Join Kym and other celebrities for a carol concert at 5pm tonight in Trafalgar Square, in support of Plan UK and sponsoragirl.org.
Other celebrities joining Kym on stage include Camilla Dallerup (star of Strictly Come Dancing), Jasmine Harman (A Place in the Sun), Zoe Tyler (vocal coach to the stars), Syed Ahmed (star of the Apprentice), Amy Studt (singer) and Lucie Cave (Executive editor Heat magazine).
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