The scheduled post for today was about some of the challenges I’ve been facing. I’m in such good spirits though, that I wanted to talk about that instead. This week, my girls’ empowerment program has been going exceptionally well, all thanks to the girls and the enthusiasm and curiosity they bring to everything they do. I’m so excited about how incredible the kids are, and I just beam every time I think about it. And this is just the beginning.
A month ago, when I arrived, I tried to play soccer with my host brother and his friends. They directly told me that “girls can’t play soccer.” Today, I walked out of my classroom to see two co-ed teams on the field. The girls were just as engaged and aggressive as the boys. It was just kids playing.
The girls’ club has four components at this point:
1. Cross-cultural awareness and critical thinking
2. Physical activity
3. Leadership development
4. Family and community support
Cross-cultural awareness, where we work to enhance our critical thinking skills and learn about different beliefs and ways of living. One of the ways I do this is by having them form teams and debate various issues (today’s was “should voting be mandatory?”). It’s a little hard because they don’t have any way to research these topics, so I try to provide as much extra information as I can. They really enjoy the debates, because they love public speaking and they’re quite competitive.
Then, there is physical activity, which is mostly soccer. This is also for my benefit: I missed playing and being active, since it wasn’t acceptable for girls here. I’ve found a number of them have wanted to play soccer for a long time, but haven’t been allowed to. This has been slow progress, but lately the girls have become incredibly competitive, letting go of prior timidness.
Leadership development has so far manifested solely as actively being allies for the students with disabilities, who are occasionally mocked or picked on. As a teacher, I don’t see this very often, but when I do, I haven’t had to step in because one of the girls is already dealing with her troublemaking peers. It will take on a much bigger role in the upcoming weeks though. I’ll admit I’m still working with my mentor on how best to go about this portion of the program, but a big part of it right now is confidence building.
Family and community support entails visiting the homes of each of the girls. Here, it’s a big honor for a teacher to visit, so the girls seem really excited to have me come over. I’ve only gone on two home visits, but I promised more next week, and I’ll meet with everyone’s families by the end of the month. Basically, I just drink tea and have a snack with the family. I don’t talk specifically about the girls’ club at all, I just talk about my own background. They have a lot of questions about my experiences. The idea is simply to form a connection with them as someone whose background is markedly different.
I can’t stop beaming when I think about the girls I get to work with everyday. They’re so full of energy, curiosity, and compassion. When we talk about what they want to do when they grow up, I know it: these girls really can change the world. They have so much potential. They have my utmost respect.
This sums up how I’m feeling right now:
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