Submitted by Lindsey Hanson; Adjei Kojo, Greater Accra
A girls
club can be a great addition to any community. It teaches young women
leadership, independence, assertiveness, and pride. I think all volunteers
should have at least one club that meets either weekly, or monthly, depending
on your schedule. It has been one of the best parts of my experience and lets
me work outside of my primary project to teach students about issues that I
feel are important to them. These topics are often things that are not taught
in school and perhaps the parents do not discuss with their children at home,
such as personal hygiene or proper condom use.
Based on
an outline generated my Stephanie Carey, an education volunteer, I designed a
girls club at my school. (See below) The first step was finding strong women
teachers who were interested in running the club. I spoke with them about what
issues female students at our school are having. From there we outlined what
topics would be best to discuss and I arranged them in an order that made sense
to me, several to coincide with National and International holidays. My main
role in this club is to inform teachers and students when the meetings are and
what topic we will discuss that month. I make the teachers run the meetings
themselves, but I sit in and assist. I also was able to procure through the GYD
SMALL FUND GRANT Ghc150.00 to purchase some items for the club meetings. These
include red ribbons to support National Aids day and beads to make menstrual
cycle bracelets. My other role is to contact guest speakers and put them in touch
with the teachers running the meetings. I hope to forge some strong
relationships, so the speakers will continue to come in the years after I am
gone. By giving the teachers the lead role in this club they are setting good
examples for the female students and also learning that they can run the club
with little help from me. I hope this encourages them to continue the club in
future years. If you need any more advice on starting a girls club feel free to
contact me or your regional GYD representative.
Month
|
Topic
|
Activities
|
November
*December
1st National Aids Day*
|
HIV/AIDS
|
Making pins and posters to raise awareness for
National Aids Day. Learn about the ABC’s and play the risk game led by peer
educators.
|
December
|
Personal
Hygiene and Menstruation
|
Making fertility bracelets using recycled glass
beads.
|
January
|
Entrepreneurship
|
Tour of Global Mammas distribution site in
Ashaiman.
|
February
|
Assertiveness
and Communication skills
|
Assertiveness role playing games, Deaf Pride slide
show and discussion
|
March
*March
8th International Women’s Day*
|
Leadership
|
Guest speaker from Leading Ladies Network in Accra
to discuss leadership and what skills are found in a good leader.
|
April
*April
16th World Malaria Day*
|
Malaria
|
Risk Game and Neem Cream demo and Net hanging
demonstration. Guest speaker from Ghana Heath Service.
|
May
|
Self
Defense
|
Basic techniques of protecting oneself
demonstrated by local Tai-Kwon-Do instructor.
|
June
|
Self
Esteem
|
Making God’s eyes craft and taking photos of the girls
to be printed.
|
July
|
Birth
control
Family Planning STD’s |
Guest speaker local nurse to discuss family
planning and condom demo. Watch videos from PEPFAR and discuss the
situations.
|
No comments:
Post a Comment