REPORT ON THE GIRL POWER CLUBS AFRICA EX-CANS
VOLUNTEER LEADERS’WORKSHOP
10-13TH DECEMBER 2012
AT SADILI OVAL SPORTS ACADEMY
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| Ja Young providing guidance |
Nine girls reported for the workshop, which is limited to girls who have completed school and are hoping to work for the Girl Power Clubs next year, eight of
whom brought with them their ‘’letter of motivation’’ which was required of them upon reporting.
Of all attendance;
> 1 was from Malezi Primary,
Noela Akinyi,
>4 from Nazarene Primary,;
Dorcas, Akinyi, Arnnette Anyango, Sally
Akinyi, Dinah Osebe
>3 from Karen ‘’C’’ Secondary
; Vellectar Ndevani, Petronila Mutheu and Philemona Gathoni
> 1 from St. Aloysius Bella Achieng’
We adapted ‘’The River Of Life’’
Story telling format where the girls told and shared their stories…shocking and
very personal. From their sharing
Ø At 8 years old one of them underwent FGM .
She is now 14 years. The rite was done secretly and she had to be taken to stay
alone at a ‘’customs hut’’ and have no contact with anyone for a week only her
aunt allowed to visit her and bring food. She was required not to cry, complain
or talk about it outside their community. On the last day, she was required to
bath at the river before sun rise, shave her head clean and is then considered
clean to return to her community. There
after came to Nairobi and school continued and so did life! Some girls she said, they suffer terribly and nothing
can be done..it is secret and no one talks about it but you must go through it.
Ø At 12years another girl in the group, was raped. Until this workshop she never has
spoken publicly or shared about it..she wanted to share because she felt it
might help another girl and no one will tell on her. One time she visits the
country side for 2 weeks with her aunt who at some point feels like she needed
to relieve herself at a nearby bush while they walked to the village early
evening. She is left on the pathway and a man that claimed to be a police man
questions her as to why she is alone at that hour and that he has power over
her and could arrest her…getting scared, he grabs her to the bush, rapes
her and quickly disappears threatening
her to even try to act and never to walk alone. Her aunt who thinks she has
walked ahead finds her in pain, she explains and is taken to hospital . Lucky
no infections or any serious physical injury. She instructs her to shut up as
it is going to be a shame and act normal. On return to Nairobi she sees the man, as they approached he quickly
turned to disappear and she points him out to her aunt who tells her there is
nothing to be done now she wasn’t hurt, Be a good girl and shut up. Never told
the mother or anyone else..the river of life…she wrote the things that have
brought her here and she shared for the first time. She cannot tell her mother
because …’’if I tell her I know how she
will think..she might not understand or believe me..i needed help and I needed
to talk about it I cannot do it with her and so I shared here,….i feel better
now.’’
Ø One other girl almost fell into similar trap
..had been cheated by a neighbour who always played the good one to send her to
the shop and make her bring the item into his house and she remembered being
told that that is a compromising situation and having learnt to say NO from
Girl Power discussions in their club she figured she should leave the things at
his door and run as he had previously been showing unusual interest in her and
praising her more than usual.
Ø The rest had more or less common
stories…struggle through life, being raised by single parents, some passed on
along the way others born and do not know who their father is…the need to
belong and the reality that one has to live with it. Struggle through school and do their best.
This stories, the first two
especially were most shocking..it was able to bring out how powerful creative
story telling methods can be such as ‘’the river of life’’.
The rest of day flowed as shown
in the programme.
Day 2- 11/12/12 Facilitated by Jayoung Naphtalie Margaret
As in the programme, the girls
did have some time to play in the football pitch and later identify aspects of
team work and leadership from the game as well as ‘’know yourself task’’ with
Hazel May for 15 minutes followed by a movie session.
The movie we decided on ‘’Freedom
Writers’’ is based on
true story of Erin Gruwel who began her teaching task in a very
difficult environment. Back in 1994. She
had to make room 203 her home, the
students that hated her more than each other because she is white and they know
what whites can do..make them her friends and students. A group of teenagers that are racist, belong
to gangs, carry automatic weapons and believed to be way below average
thinkers…she brings a huge transformation at huge risks….and finally they wrote ‘’freedom writers diaries’’ as a class in
1997.
With questionnaires that were
developed with the help of Evelyne Guchura, the girls were able to;
Ø Identify leadership qualities in Ms. Gruwel
Ø Identify challenges in Leadership
Ø Indentify the need for innovation and
creativity
Ø Understand leadership is a risk that requires determination, consistency,
sacrifice, time, a heart, courage, authority, knowledge, fairness, self-
reliance, optimism, wisdom, passion in what one does, understanding and
intelligence, innovation
Ø Point out their favourite characters and why
Ø Why the story is a success
Ø The role of the rest of team
players..colleagues, group members
Ø Indentify lessons they can apply it their own
lives
Day 3- 12/12/12 Facilitated by Evelyne Guchura
The girls were taken through
communication and communication skills, how to present themselves, what
language to use and where, why communicate.
They also had time to play frees
bees and be taken through career paths
where Evelyne was able to share her story with them.
This day was entirely taken by Evelyne
as the main facilitator and the girls that attended reported to have enjoyed it.
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| Evelyne (right) preparing for the workshop |
Day 4- 13/12/12 Facilitated by Jayoung Naphtalie Margaret
As shown in the programme, the
girls opened the day with a questionnaire where they had to write what they
thought a community meant, challenges in their own, what solutions they
intended to offer.
They all agreed that a community
is a group of people in a society that stay together in a particular
geographical location, have similar rituals and believes and sometimes same
taboos and ancestral descent. However we also looked into a town setting where
some of the points raised will not apply for example a school for instance not
all come from the same descent but the common thing would be
Ø Composed of people
Ø In a geographical area
Ø Live together
Ø Similar life styles
Ø Understand each other
Ø Are bound by rules that might or not be
common, both written and unwritten…we looked at different examples, settings
and situations
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| A discussion group |
They pointed out some challenges
being poverty, lack of unity, crime, cultural activities, religion,
communication barrier government bureaucracy, the media, age, drug abuse ,and
change. We discussed these challenges at length each with examples from our own
‘communities’’ and places we have been to. We all agreed that most of the problems could be solved by personal commitment for changing the attitudes of youth.
We also discussed the second part
which is community outreach. Having known what a community is and its
challenges and the intended ‘’solutions’’ we had to challenge ourselves as
leaders who are going to be the agents of change in the communities sometimes
very much unfamiliar to our own bringing up the issue of culture shock , how to
deal with it while remembering to respect community culture while seeking dialogue
and to bring a change. We agreed that we must have know our surroundings well
enough and be flexible enough to adapt without necessarily losing ourselves
and our intended purpose.
We ended the session with a
‘’tour’’ around Sadili after which they all wrote reports in form of reviews on
Trip Advisor.
That marked the end of the ‘’GIRL
POWER’S EX-CANS LEADERS VOLUNTEERS WROKSHOP’’
Issued raised
Ø When will they hear from us again?
Ø Will they get a certificate from the workshop
and when do they come for them?
Ø Most of the things are taught are what they
have always been. However we explained that the dimension in
which they are receiving the lessons is
not from the student view but rather the leaders/volunteer’s view who will
later train others from a student view. The four that attended the last day each
received Girl Power note books which
they were happy about but still mentioned they will be waiting for
certificates.
Out of all attendants we only had two
consistent girls Vellectar Ndevani and Petronila Mutheu , both from Karen
‘’C’’. We have been looking at both over the week after the workshop, if we are
to pick one person from the group we had settled on Vellectar. Her courage, enthusiasm
, she is more ‘’contained’’, is more bold
and is less likely that type that would quite when anything seems to be
tough. She seems more open and able to take on challenges. We also saw one girl Bella, from St. Aloysius,
unfortunately she wasn’t able to come for all days we therefore cannot make any conclusion about whether she can work for Girl Power next term, as she is also new and also communicated previously through FaceBook.
Challenges
Ø There had not been any serious challenges
except the inconsistency of a few participants
which showed lack of seriousness on their part which also made it easier to eliminate in the selection process.
Ø Most participants at beginning had just
completed primary school and the challenge becomes how to make a follow up on
them when they join high school as they seem a promising group of girls.
Ø The girls had hoped to get certificates at
the end unfortunately, they were not ready by the time we were done as shops were off for Christmas break. The certificates will be granted in January 2013, when print shops are open.
Report
Compiled by,
Jayoung
Naphtalie Margaret,
Project
Assistant,
Girl
Power Clubs Africa
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