Kids are Brutal

International Day of the Girl Child take 2. A year ago I had my first real event. It was more challenging than I expected. This year I thought things would be better; in a way it was, but what I found out was that kids are mean! My girls spent a month preparing for the event working on different songs, dramas, poems, dances, and speeches- all of which were original.  My girls did a great job showing off their creativity in practice, and I believed it would be a great show; however, standing in front of 300 students, it was not the case. The drama teamed performed and a poem was recited, the school was noisy, but responsive. Next was another poem to be recited by a form 1 girl; she was nervous as should be. Sadly, the whole student body saw that and started laughing. I went up to stand by her to give her some confidence, but the students just laughed even more! The poor girl started crying—and apparently from what I was told, people were making fun of her the rest of the day. My heart went out to her; it’ll be a long time before she ever gets back up there again. If that wasn’t bad enough, the next act to follow was by a group of form 4 girls who were to sing a song. About mid-way through, one of the girls hit a note that was a little off, and the WHOLE school started laughing at them. My girls couldn’t recover, and walked off the stage with their heads low. This day was supposed to be about empowering girls, yet it was quite the opposite. As I reflected on this event, I came to the same conclusion as I did a year ago…. Today just showed how much of a need there really is for girl’s empowerment and how much all of these kids need to feel confidence. To be honest, a lot of my days, I just want to sit back and cry. There is SO much work to be done here that can’t be fixed with simple events or workshops. It takes real effort and patience to make change happen and I’ll be lucky if I ever see it within my 2 years here.

Here is a speech that was made by one of my girls in Form 2:

                SWAGAA (Swaziland Action Group Against Abuse) was initiated by a group of women who were particularly concerned about the problem of abuse in Swaziland. The program was launched on October 12, 1990. The need for SWAGAA to introduce a program focused on girl children became evident in October 2007 when a national survey on violence against children and young women in Swaziland was conducted by UNICEF in partnership with SWAGAA and other local NGOs. The study indicated that approximately 1 and 3 females in Swaziland experienced some form of sexual violence as a child, nearly 1 and 4 women experienced physical violence as a child, and approximately 3 and 10 females experienced emotional abuse as a child.

                The formal existence of the Girl’s Empowerment Club in Swaziland began in February 2008. Through the facilitation of an open forum, a supportive network and accessible resources, the club gives the forgotten girl child a place to express her opinions on sensitive issues such as rape, forced marriage, and HIV/AIDS, as well as to communicate hopes and aspirations. The club is a place for the girl child to feel free, safe, and strong. It is a space that she owns and where she will find the guidance of mentors, role models, friends, and counselors.

                The most important person in the program is the Girl Child as a unique and special individual. As a club we respect the needs, values, rights, and opinions of each empowered girl on her journey to becoming an empowered woman. Remember- the girl child does not stay a girl child forever, so don’t underestimate her. Girls, You Are Special!!

And here are just some facts about WHY Day of the Girl Child is so important:

·     

•    Rape and domestic violence are a higher risk for females aged 15 to 44 than cancer, traffic accidents or malaria.
• According to the first survey of its kind released in 2007, one in every three female Swazis has experienced some form of sexual violence before turning 18. The figure rises to two out of three in the 18 to 24 age range.
• Before a new constitution was adopted in 2006, Swazi women had the legal status of minors, and were unable to own property or open a bank account without the permission of a male relative or husband.
•  Social, economic and cultural practices create, enforce and perpetuate legalized gender inequalities and discrimination in all aspects of women’s lives.
• Deeply entrenched gender inequities compound the HIV and AIDS pandemic in Swaziland. Women continue to be disproportionately vulnerable to HIV/AIDS. Some blame worsening economic and humanitarian conditions in the country, along with the belief by some HIV-positive men that sleeping with a virgin girl can prevent AIDS, for the rise in violence against women and children. 
• In Swaziland, out of a total population of 1.1 million 186,000 people (estimate UNAIDS) are living with HIV or AIDS. Thirty-three per cent of the population is infected and 57 per cent of them are women.
• The cultural practice of polygamy, where one man takes several wives, has been identified by local HIV and AIDS activists as a significant source of transmission.
• Worldwide, girls constitute over half of the children out of school. Only 30 percent of all girls are enrolled in secondary school. In many countries, less than one third of university students are women.
• The average sub-Saharan African girl from a low-income, rural household gets less than two years of schooling and never learns to read and write, to add and subtract, as opposed to the average sub-Saharan African boy who fully completes primary education.

Junior Achievers

Everything in Swaziland is easy going, but I promise you nothing is ever easy. There is no sense of urgency, nor is there any obligation to feel rushed. This sense of attitude [for me] is perfect when I am on a vacation or just chillin on my mom’s sofa, but it drives me crazy when things go slowly in the work world. Much of Africa is like this—here they run on “Swazi time”, and I am sure in other parts of Africa they run on “___ time”. The old saying here goes, “there is no rush while the sun is still up”; all the while I am running around saying “time is money! $$$$$”. It can be extremely frustrating when you are trying to get a group of people to move at a brisk pace; meanwhile they are dragging their feet.  This conditioning happens naturally; think about it, in the states if you are walking in a crowded area, you better keep moving or else you’ll get knocked into. There is a certain pace of life that each culture grows up in—and here the rate is slow. But this post isn’t about culture blah blah blah…. This is merely a preface to the past few months I went through.

In March I was approached by Junior Achievement (JA), which is an NGO from America that works specifically in schools to teach business skills. They do this with many different programs; when I was in 8^th grade I even remember JA coming to my school for 8 weeks to teach my class about the different types of businesses. In Swaziland the main project JA does is an after school club with Form 4 students where they start their own mini company. They also partner with companies around the country to do job shadow programs with Form 5 students, as well as a day-long activity with Form 2 students called Economics for Success. I am happy to say my school has participated in all three of these programs. So anyways, back to March, JA came to the school to start the new season for the mini company with the Form 4 kids. I started recruitment by meeting with the class. No response.  A few weeks later, I met again…. No response. JA called to see why we had not met with the students yet, but I told them don’t worry we’ll get them to join any time now. Still no members. Now it was May and JA came to do a training session for all the facilitators; I got my box of supplies, but still no students. The former facilitator who had no reservations of doing the club this year due to his already demanding schedule stepped in to help me round up the students. Together the teacher and I went to the Form 4 class one more time to recruit them. We gave them this lecture about how we are the defending champions two years in a row and how our school has a reputation of being winners and we need to follow that success. Ideally the club needs 20 students…. after our last recruitment venture, we only had 12.  [Here is where I start to pull my hair out.] 

It is now June and we haven’t even started with the club. I have spent the past 4 months trying to get kids to do this program. If it wasn’t for the fact that my school had won the JA Swaziland Competition, then go on to win the African Competition 2 years in a row, I would have given up and said not worth it. However, I knew the potential at this school and the support from RSSC, that there was NO reason why should not do JA this year. So here is what we did, the facilitator and I paired up with the neighboring school that is also under RSSC and we coached both teams. Each school would come up with their own company and produce their own product, but the training sessions, the support, the facilities, they would all be the same.  So with our schools being now 8 weeks late into the competition, we FINALLY started. [Here is where I started pulling out grey hair.]

From mid-June to the End of September, we met with both schools on Saturday mornings training them on the basics of how to run a business. They chose their own managers, decided on a product to make, and did market research, break-even point, SWOT analysis, drafting business plans, selling shares, manufacturing and selling a product, and finally liquidating their assets. They did a corporate responsibility project where they went to a rural community outside of Simunye and selected 5 child-headed homes. They helped those families plant a garden and helped them learn how to sell their crops to generate revenue. The kids did several trips as well; we went to Manzini and Ezulweni so the kids could do their market research, they went to a CSI awards ceremony where they rubbed elbows with some of the biggest CEO’s in SD, then last week we went on a picnic to Malolojta in Northern SD where we climbed the 2^nd highest mountain in the country. 

Near the end of the program, the students from my school started to lose their motivation and dedication; as a result, we never completed the project. [Here is where I started getting ulcers.] Their mini company’s idea was to create Math Application for cell phones and computers where our targeted consumers could log into app and get access to all kinds of math help. The product was designed in such a way that when the buyer purchased the product, they would be given an access code specifically to them where they would log on and be able to connect with other students who also bought the same app. The idea itself is great, but it was too ambitious for this group of students we had this year. As a result, my school didn’t make it into the top 10 ranks, but we did however win the prize for the MOST INNOVATIVE PRODUCT, which came with the highest cash prize of the whole competition.

While my school didn’t place, the other school we coached did! They made it into the top 10 and went on to win the whole thing!!!!!!!! They also won the prize for the Best Corporate Responsibility (the project where we went to the child-headed homes). The product that this school made was door tags, really nice door tags. Example… when you go into an office you see a door that says “Manager” “Reception” or “Restroom”, that’s the sort of tags the kids made. They sold their tags to the surrounding schools. At the JA Expo where the top 10 teams presented the project, they kids nailed their presentation! At the end, the judges asked questions about the product. One question was why didn’t the kids have more buyers? The CEO of the mini company gave the best answer ever; he said “The reason why we didn’t get as many buyers as we wanted was because the market doubted us. Not because of our product, our product is flawless and reasonably priced. They doubted us because of our age; they never gave us a chance. That is the problem with this country, they underestimate the youth. So if the buyers would actually give us a second look, I know they would buy.” BOOM!!!!!!!! How great was that?!? The audience was roaring!  Like I said earlier, no doubt we won. 

Now the team goes on to represent Swaziland in the African JA Expo; they will compete against 10 other countries. Best of all, we have home field advantage. Just as I said before, my school won the African Expo for the past two years; as a result, Swaziland is hosting the JA African Expo! It’s such a big deal for this little country.  The expo will be December 4-6, and that is where we are hoping to take home the title for the third year in a row!