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Rihanna Has Raised Millions for Girls' Education—and She's Just Getting Started

At the Diamond Ball, in her advocacy, and writing in a new Guardian op-ed, Rih is supporting education initiatives for children across the globe. Nothing but respect for our commander-in-chief.
ANGELA WEISS/AFP/Getty Images

Rihanna threw her fourth annual Diamond Ball on Friday, which raised nearly $6 million for her Clara Lionel Foundation. The 30-year-old founded the charity in 2012, named after her grandparents Clara and Lionel Braithwaite, as a way to support children through health and education initiatives. Today, in a letter written for The Guardian, Rihanna shares why she’s so passionate about education, especially for young girls. “The notion that millions of children are desperate to go to school and are not given the opportunity is something I cannot accept,” the singer writes. “Education can be stolen from you in a second.” Last year, Rihanna became an ambassador for the Global Partnership for Education (GPE), a nonprofit that funds basic education for children in over 65 developing countries. RiRi revealed that through her work with GPE, she's been able to support thousands of girls in Malawi to matriculate through secondary school. Her humanitarian work on behalf of girls' education doesn't end there. In the open letter, Rihanna also appeals to world leaders, asking them to give to GPE-focused countries like Malawi, Togo, Ghana, and Yemen that are historically disenfranchised because of colonialism and systematic oppression. "I look forward to seeing additional contributions from countries I know can step up even more, such as Germany and Japan, and seeing those that didn’t contribute—the Netherlands, Finland and New Zealand—add their support to help us reach our target," Rihanna says.

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"As an ambassador for GPE, I’ve met a number of these world leaders and witnessed first-hand how difficult it can be to commit money to education. Investment in education can be more challenging to quantify compared to something like healthcare, which has a more immediate return on investment ($1 will purchase critical vaccines, for example). But that doesn’t mean it’s less important."

Wow. What a queen.