On October 26, the anniversary of our first ever blog post, we recounted the story of the event that gave birth to the idea of Global Voices. It was on this day 10 years ago that that event occurred, making December 11 our official birthday.

As anyone who's ever met a “tween” will know, 10 years old is a critical age. And if that 10-year-old saw it fit to set aside the dystopian novel or whatever it is that occupies tweens’ attention these days, and engage you for a few moments, you'd know it's an age group that regards the world and the future with some curiosity, a bit of apprehension, but also a great deal of hope.

As we said on October 26, it's been an amazing ten years, both for us and for this planet. In addition to having evolved into a vibrant, volunteer-driven community and newsroom that produces content into over 30 languages, and a leader in the fields of digital rights and online media development, we've built a remarkable record of the extraordinary lives of so-called ordinary human beings—at a point in history where rapid change seems to be one of the few constants.

On Monday we kicked off a fresh wave of celebrations with a special edition of GV Face featuring our co-founders Rebecca and Ethan, but Global Voices community members all over the world have been hosting GV birthday events for the past few weeks, and there'll be several more in the days to come—and even more at our sixth Summit, which takes place in Cebu City, Philippines on January 24-25 (join us!).

Birthday presents are welcome too, so if you'd like to support our work, please consider a donation, or purchase some of the NSA-themed Christmas cards (!) designed by our friends at Creative Time (100% of the proceeds go to us).

Happy birthday, Global Voices! Here's to many more decades.