Girl Power

 YCI has been working in partnership with Faraja Trust Fund for a while now and in past volunteer phases our volunteers have worked with the Faraja Girls’ Club in Chamwino. For our time here we didn’t really have any direct programs planned involving the Girl’s Club but after we met this unique group of girls and they expressed such an interest in learning from us and helping their community, we couldn’t resist.

Anna (she's fierce), Myself, Mwanahawa (President of the Girls Club), and Joyness (YCI local volunteer)

The Faraja Girls Club is made up of twenty female youth from the Chamwino community. These girls are intelligent, motivated and passionate. Not all of them completed school and some are living in hard conditions but their dedication to meeting once a week and working with little resources to benefit women and their community is something to admire.

Me and my girls after their Small Business Training

 One area CIDA and the Global Youth Partnership is focusing on is Environmental Sustainability. I conducted a knowledge assessment of the girls in the club and discovered there was not only a lack of knowledge pertaining to the environment but also a lack of awareness regarding the link between our environment and our health. The girls recognized that they knew little and made it very clear they wanted to know more.

I designed a workshop on the environment and environmental sustainability. The girls participated in the active learning seminar to increase their knowledge of our earth, air and water and how our environment affects our livelihoods, health and community. 

Environmental Sustainability Workshop - unfortunately we would have more pictures but our photographer dosed off during the training.

After the training was complete, I proposed the question to the girls, “how would you like to use your new knowledge and how can we help you succeed?” They expressed an interest in a community event of some kind so that they could share this information with their family, friends and community. We planned to hold a community clean-up event for November 11, 2011 (Remembrance Day), which was just another day here but for me it was an even bigger reminder of how much freedom I have today thanks to the dedicated and selfless men and women of the past. It is because of the freedom we have in Canada that I am able to be here, helping others, a world away.

The girls expressed an interest in making signs, banners, posters, etc., to promote the day’s events. We supplied them with everything they needed to do so and as the “cherry on top,” we had t-shirts made up at a local shop for the event. These girls are amazing young women and they will make a difference in their community and country. Gender roles in Tanzania still present a gap of inequity between men and women and empowering these ladies to “change” (not themselves but their community, country, and beyond) is an awesome experience. The t-shirts had “Girls Club” on the front with YCI logo and on the back, “Mazingira Bora, Maisha Bora,” which translates to “Better Environment,  Better Health.”

 

The girls, one 7 months pregnant, some dressed in fierce heels, collected 15 bags full of garbage from the area around their community with the help of us and local volunteers. As we picked up garbage, neighbourhood children came running and joined in, community members expressed their gratitude, and the girls gleamed with pride.

Never thought I could be so happy picking up garbage!

Neighbourhood children joined in and made the experience that much more successful!

It was a team effort - Girls Club, YCI and local volunteers

The Girls and their garabage, or triumph it depends on how your look at the world.

I am going to miss my girls from Chamwino but I know they will continue to help themselves, their family, their friends, their community and their country. To have so little and to dream so big is something we can all gather inspiration from.