Namibia’s girls - Our greatest resource

In the North and in the South, Namibia’s girls are learning to be leaders. This past June and July, the second annual Southern and Northern Girls Conferences were held in Keetmanshoop and Ondangwa, respectively. Organised by Peace Corps Volunteers and funded by UNICEF, the goal of both conferences was to empower the participants with knowledge and to equip them with peer leadership skills so that they could bring that knowledge back to their community.

Sixty girls in grades seven through eleven, from Hardap and Karas regions, gathered for an exciting weekend. They discovered their strengths and learned they can develop those strengths in order to take charge of their own lives, living by the motto “My future is my choice!”

Girls rotated through sessions on:

Esteem-Building,

Self-Perception,

Healthy Relationships,

HIV/AIDS,

Reproductive Health and

My Future Is My Choice.

These sessions gave the girls a chance to explore these topics through art and poetry, as well as through instruction and discussion.

Another highlight of the conference was the Phenomenal Women Panel Discussion. Five successful and talented women came to share their stories and give encouragement and advice. Again, these women emphasized a theme of the weekend – the importance of choice. For instance, while explaining how she rose from being a freedom fighter to a Member of Parliament (among many other accomplishments), the Honorable Hilma Nicanor, testified that not only commitment and dedication are necessary for success, but that it is also how you manage your life.

In a more sobering story, Nelao Martin, a passionate HIV activist and HIV+ speaker warned the girls about the consequences of making poor choices, especially in regards to unprotected sex. Ms. Martin became infected with HIV in grade 10, around the same age as most of the girls at the conference. Her story helped the girls understand how important it is to know and respect themselves, so they will make healthy decisions and manage their lives to do brilliant things each day. After each of the speakers shared their stories, questions from the audience ranged from "How did it change your life when you found out you had HIV?" to "What would you tell a girl if a boy tells her, ’You would have sex with me if you loved me’?"

The girls from Luderitz repeatedly told the Peace Corps Volunteer from heir
community, "Thank you for bringing us to this conference. We wish all the
girls from our group could have come, and we want to come again next year.
We really feel like Phenomenal Women now, and we want to teach the others all the things we did – relationships, the self-esteem, the yoga-goede, and games..."

On Saturday, each community group had time to plan activities for
when they returned to their communities. Every group said they wanted to
share the conference information with other girls. Some groups wanted to
hold workshops for the other girls in their clubs. A few groups wanted to
invite other girls from their schools to a workshop, as well as other girls
in their communities. A few groups planned income generating projects and service projects to help others.

Perhaps the Rehoboth Girl’s Clubs said it best when they sang in their closing group performance,

"We are proud to be phenomenal women.

We are proud to make our own decisions.

We are proud to stand up for our rights.

We are proud to be disciplined.

We are proud to be Rehoboth Girls."

With positive conferences and outcomes like this, someday all girls will stand up to say, "We are proud to be...girls."

“The greatest resource in Namibia is you,” said Andrew Strûwig, Deputy Director of the Ministry of Education, Oshikoto, during the official opening of the conference which brought together over eighty young women from the Ohangwena, Omusati, Oshana, and Oshikoto regions. Participants included grade eight and nine learners, while girls from grades ten and eleven facilitated discussions and sessions.

Women being more vulnerable to HIV/AIDS, organisers were focused on candidly discussing risks & the opportunity these young women have to change the course of the epidemic. Participants rotated through various topic sessions, a career panel, a positive speaker, a special showing of “The Vagina Monologues,” and more. The response was overwhelming. As one learner wrote, “We need more of these types of workshops. Women in my country are uninformed (very). They don’t know how much they are really worth.” Not only did these young women find strength, they discovered how valuable they are, and how much their futures should be protected. Organizers are confident the conference will lead to improved and expanded activities at school’s girls, HIV/AIDS Awareness, and other clubs, so their classmates can discover the same things.

Ms. Esther Sakaria, Acting Circuit Inspector for the Eheke Circuit (Ministry of Education, Oshana), reminded the girls, as the conference drew to a close, they are all peer leaders and should take this information back to their schools. She encouraged them to be strong women and good role models. As participants received their certificates, and showed their newly made club banners, it was clear these young women took their call to action seriously. Namibia’s future looks brighter with these gifted, creative, and determined young women working together for change.