St. Dominic High girls empowered
through Girl Power programme
SOUTH REWARD--Participants at the St. Dominic High School who took part in the Girl Power and the St. Maarten AIDS Foundation programme on building self-esteem, self empowerment and self values in young girls graduated yesterday from the three-day workshop.
According to Girl Power coordinator Ria Uiterloo, the aim of the programme was to train the girls on basic decision-making skills needed when communicating with their peers and parents. She said based on feedback from the participants, the programme could be deemed successful.
This programme took place from December 11 to 13 directly after regular school hours. The objective was for adult facilitators, recruited via ads in the local newspapers, to go into schools and mentor young girls between the ages of 13 and 18 in setting goals for the future and also making good choices when it comes to sexual intercourse.
Hydie Thomas of class 2B, a participant in the programme, commented that the programme was very empowering and gave the girl-pointers on how to assist their peers in particular situations.
Patricia Sadler of class 2A said the programme equipped the girls with a lot of information on means of handling themselves, when to be assertive and how to keep it real. Laura Molina of class 2B said the programme exposed her to a lot of subjects unknown to her and helped her realize how women are being exploited, for example through the lyrics of music.
Leshenia Maundy of class 3B said the programme taught the girls how to conduct themselves in different situations and how to deal with personal value and emotions.
Leysha de La Rosa of class 3B said the programme was very educational, teaching her how to defend herself and she said she felt the programme needed to be done again at the school in order to help increase pride in young girls.
According to Uiterloo, the Girl Power programme was piloted in 2002 at several secondary schools on the island and after being evaluated it was decided that it was effective. Girl Power has been extended to include other focus groups such as young boys, parents, school dropouts, etc.
The programme was also carried out at Learning Unlimited.
