Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Girls' Day

I have had plenty of good days and amazing moments but Saturday, June 4th was easily a top 5 day in Malawi.

In a last minute effort to hang out with the Form 3 and Form 4 girls I asked my sitemates, Twila and Debra, if they would be willing to help with a girls' day--a day to discuss health, environment, and education issues and a forum for the girls to be comfortable enough to ask questions. Twila and Debra agreed and so we bought some beans and rice and fantas and had our day.

Twila, an environment volunteer spoke about taking care of their environment. They talked about where to plant gardens that would be easier to water, where to plant trees to help lower the water in the chimbudzi, and good fruits and vegetables to plant in our area. This is all really helpful information because they will all be the heads of their households and will (hopefully) be able to provide their children with lots of healthy foods.

Then Debra, a health volunteer, got to the good stuff. They talked about their bodies, how menstruation works, how you can become pregnant, all the stuff that kids learn in America in the 5th grade that is taboo in Malawian schools. They also learned about HIV/AIDS, they learned how to put a condom on, and why THEY are in charge of their bodies. It was an incredible conversation.

I talked about setting goals, both long term and short term, and how they have to work step by step to achieve their big goals. We also made a calender and mapped out our day so we can be efficient and effective with out time. (thanks TFA) I was pretty encouraged when Eunice told me me Monday we needed to finish our map because it was on her schedule.

The rest of the afternoon was spend doing a question and answer which was unbelievable. The girls were so open and honest and the next day one of the girls wrote a report in my class about the day, she said "we must take care of our vagina coz its so beautiful we must not allow anybody to destroy it." To that, I say 'yeah, girl.'

see you all soon!
love,
e