20 young girls partake in female empowerment weekend hosted by Rotary Club of Garden City

Twenty young girls who are part of the Guyana Girl Guides Association were two weeks ago, exposed to a weekend of activities that focused on empowering young women and breaking biases.

These activities were organised by the Guyana Girl Guides Association in collaboration with the Rotaract Club of the University of Guyana for the weekend of October 15 and October 16. The group of girls participated in the “Empowering Girls Now” initiative, which is a Rotary International and Zone 33/34 /District 7030 initiative for the Rotary Year 2022/23.

This activity aimed to empower their ability to make choices and create positive change in their own lives, under the theme, “Empowered Girls become Empowered Women”. The initiative was launched at the Georgetown Club.

A release by the Rotary Club of the Garden City (Georgetown) said that the Wellness Weekend “focused on revealing the full potential of girls to shape the future of their communities, eliminate or appropriately deal with obstacles they face and create social awareness of the concept of Empower Girls Now”.

The participants, whose ages vary between 13 and 17, engaged in various activities which aim to help them with building confidence and self-esteem through health and wellness exercises, improve their financial literacy and most importantly, share experiences among each other in regards to career and community work.

Minister of Human Services and Social Security, Dr Vindhya Persaud, was the guest speaker for the event. While addressing the girls, the Minister encouraged them to be actively involved in the conversations about their welfare and future, and “to be active in all spheres to develop their full true potentials”, the release stated.

Meanwhile, the club President Natasha Backer, reminded the girls about some of the organisation’s values especially in the area of empowering girls and reassured them that through the club’s commitment, “we will make a difference in the lives of our young girls, who we deem our future leaders,” the release said.

Further, it stated that the programme was rolled out so that the young girls were exposed to concepts that covered several aspects of self-care and varied from physical, mental, and social health tips to communication skills and financial literacy tips and practices.”

The highlight of the weekend was a Vision Board activity. The girls were told to imagine their futures in the next few years and to create a board that would reflect such. “With a sense of empowerment, the responses were limitless from traveling and wanting to learn Chinese, to furthering studies in vast fields, to becoming financially independent,” the release said.

Part of the Club’s primary focus is to be environmentally focused. Hence, a session that focused on the aforementioned topic was facilitated by Ladonna Kissoon of the Environmental Protection Agency.

Additionally, the club’s Assistant Governor, Liz Cox, attended the event and advised the girls to be authentic and find their voice while also being an inspiration to others so they can also find theirs.