PHENOMENAL GIRLS OF MARIENTAL

THANK YOU for your support of this project. Special thanks to Diane Rydel-Milanowski, and Martha Rydel for donation that helped with purchasing supplies for the conference!! The Peace Corps Gender Awareness In Namibia (GAIN) Committee also helped out and everything was covered! It was a fantastic day with good participation from all of the girls!! See the article below for more details. Again, thanks for supporting projects like this!!

:-) beth

PHENOMENAL GIRLS OF MARIENTAL
I am a woman phenomenally, phenomenal woman that’s me.

These words from Maya Angelou’s poem, Phenomenal Woman which served as the theme for the day, kicked off the first ever Mariental Girls Conference early Saturday morning (13 October 2007) at Danie Joubert School Hall. The purpose of the conference was to imbue a sense of empowerment in the girls and to encourage each one to make healthy life choices that will enable them to reach their goals.

About 30 girls from Danie Joubert, Empelheim JSS, and Mariental High School came together for this special one-day event. The idea for the conference started in June with a small group of girls who attended the Southern Girls Conference (SGC) in Keetmanshoop and wanted to share what they gained there with more girls in their community. These girls generated a list of the most important sessions and a list of possible guest speakers for this one day event. The conference was then organized by local Peace Corps Volunteers and funded by the Peace Corps Gender Awareness In Namibia (GAIN) Committee as well as private donations. Some of the SGC participants played active roles in this one day conference. Charisma, from Danie Joubert, gave the opening remarks and purpose. Patricia, from Empelheim JSS, lead one of the energizer games along with Franzinia and Rachel also from her school. In addition, a teacher working with girls club activities from each of the three schools assisted in the event. The following three teachers deserve a thank you for taking up a whole Saturday to invest in the lives of girls from the Mariental community: Ms. Sonia Cloete from Danie Joubert High School, Ms. Elsibe Beukes from Empelheim J.S.S., and Ms. Denise Bock from Mariental High School.

The schedule of the day was jam packed with informative, enjoyable, beneficial, and some just plain fun activities! A team of Peace Corps Volunteers lead sessions about teenage pregnancy, self-esteem, appropriate relationships, and women’s health. Each participant received a journal that they used to record important thoughts and lessons learned throughout the day. After lunch, the girls listened to four phenomenal women discuss strategies for how young women can achieve their goals. The panel included Hannah Baldwin, Peace Corps Country Director, Ms. Louw, Principal of Empelheim J.S.S., Ms. Patricia Beukes, Mayor of Mariental, and Ms. Katrina Hanse-Himarwa, Governor of Hardap region. The speeches certainly made impressions on the young women and highlighted the importance of knowing where you come from in order to look forward and determine where you want to go.

Smiles and laughter throughout the day confirmed that the girls were having fun. Exchanging of phone numbers in a rush before leaving at the end of the day showed that the girls made new friends from other schools in Mariental that they would not have had an opportunity to get to know otherwise. In addition to having fun and making new friends, the girls also learned a lot. To wrap up the conference these young women were asked what they will take away from the conference. Besides receiving certificates of completion and t-shirts, the girls had very insightful responses about what they would take with them from the conference: new friends, self-confidence, self-respect and the power of being a phenomenal woman! For all involved, it truly was a phenomenal day!