Girls Club

 

We meet every Sunday at 2pm.  At least that’s what the hand-made posters say.  We try to meet.  It took me some time to get the girls warmed up to the idea of a club just for them – a club to be girls.  Initially I started last year in September after school.  The girls complained that they were hungry and couldn’t concentrate.  We took a club hiatus.  After Camp GLOW in August, Tiphness and Sunganani became the ring leaders for the new and improved Girls Club.  At our first meeting I served juice and cookies to lure them in.  We had six attend, not bad I should say.

As the weeks continued, I learned what worked and what didn’t.  “Winging it” sometimes worked.  Planning on 15 girls to come did not work.  Art projects always worked.  Deep discussions could only be introduced at certain times.  Singing and dancing – the best way to bring on the sillies or to get the sillies out.

Why Girls Club?  Well, it’s a special place where girls can be girls.  Boys outnumber the girls in the classroom and oftentimes girls get lost in the crowd.  Their English improves slowly as their confidence can sometimes be crushed.  Girls are more at risk for HIV/AIDS biologically and culturally.  Older men often try to seduce girls through offers of gifts and money.  There are many schools where male teachers make sexual advances on their female students.  Girls are too embarrassed, scared or shy to speak out.  And even if they did, who would be their advocate?  It’s her word against his and it’s more likely that the headmaster will take the side of the teacher. 

In our Girls Club, girls can express themselves without being ridiculed.  I have watched my usually timid Form 1 ladies turn into sassy, fun-loving young women.  I want to encourage them to be role models to their younger sisters.  I want them to be business women, teachers and government leaders.  They have it in them; they just have to let their light shine.

A few of my favorite topics:

We decorated journals with stickers, pictures from magazines, old cards I received from back home and talked about the importance of self-awareness.  We use the journals to take notes and to make our own notes of significance.  At each meeting, girls are encouraged to share what they have written throughout the week.

After a lesson on women’s health, we crafted vulvas and vaginas out of home-made play-dough.  Each girl had to identify the parts of the female reproductive system and then she got to take home some play-dough.  The discussion was lively and spirited – huge hit.

I introduced the word “phenomenal” and came up with synonyms.   We read the poem Phenomenal Woman by Maya Angelou using the assertive communication skills we talked about.  After the dramatic readings, each girl wrote on a poster what makes her phenomenal.  Then each girl stood tall and proud to exclaim what made her phenomenal.  **Special thanks to Shelly for sharing this idea that she had with her girls club**

We were given a lesson on menstruation and trained by Elizabeth to sew feminine hygiene pads.  The girls who were trained were given an opportunity to be leaders at another training a month later where they introduced the topic and taught their peers everything they learned from Eliza.

We talk about sex, women’s health and HIV.

We made friendship bracelets.

We set goals.

It’s kind of awesome, really.