TOT: What a GLOWing success!

I am still on a high from last week’s GLOW Counselor Training.  The atmosphere of Swazi women playing an active role in their own empowerment was truly inspiring! For those of you just jumping on the bandwagon now, GLOW (Girls Leading Our World) exists to encourage, support, and inspire gender equality and female empowerment in the Kingdom of Swaziland.  Our goal is to provide a safe and supportive environment where girls can obtain accurate information on sexual and reproductive health, obtain psychosocial support, investigate careers, and develop leadership skills.

A huge thank you to everyone who helped support GLOW.  Our first training of the Second Annual GLOW Camp was glowingly successful!!  We, the GLOW team just finished hosting TOT (Training of Trainers) where we selected counselors from our communities all around Swaziland.  These women will serve as the leaders at the GLOW Camp that will take place in April.  GLOW Camp is a camp that targets, teenagers and school-aged girls in order to empower them to become the future leaders of Swaziland.  TOT is important because most of the sessions we cover at TOT will also be taught at Camp, so TOT is basically a dry-run to work out all the kinks in order to make sure Camp is successful, that the counselors are prepared, and the girls will gain all-important information and leadership skills.

TOT was four days long.  The first day was a half-day which consisted of an introduction to GLOW, getting to know you games, and a PJ party!  One of the activities dealt with all the things we think we can’t do and overcoming those can’ts.  Our venue had a beautiful pool, but our counselors were scared of it because most of them can’t swim.  We had no time in the schedule for swim lessons, but we volunteer took note of this fear to see if we could find a time in the week to teach them to swim.

On to day two, we talked about sexual and reproductive health.  There was a lesson on anatomy of male and female bodies, menstruation, and how pregnancy happens.  Next, I taught a lesson about sexually transmitted infections and their symptoms and that many STIs are curable or treatable.  Then we went on to the emotional aspects of health and having a child by choice, not chance.   We talked about goal setting and leadership and then at night we had a movie night where we showed “The King and I.”  The movie was a hit.  The counselors loved watching a woman stand up for herself and also watching the King as he misused English phrases.

I was particularly proud of my session on STIs because of a survey we asked the counselors fill out a survey at the beginning and end of the training.  One of the questions asked whether some STIs were curable.  36% got the question right at the beginning and by the end 96% got it right!  Whoo! I taught them something and they were listening!

Day three was all about mental health and dealing with the grief and loss of loved ones.  They learned coping strategies to deal with losses and had time to reflect on their lost loved ones.   We were also visited by the US Ambassador.  As she arrived, our Swazi counselors were surprised and impressed that a person of such high distinction was a woman.  She really made an impact even before she sat down to give here talk which on its own was truly inspiring to both Swazis and Americans alike.  She spoke about her humble beginnings in Queens, NY in a family of seven sisters.  Her parents hadn’t graduated high school, but were advocates for hard work and education.  She bragged that because of these disciplines instilled by her parents, all her sisters graduated college and are successful lawyers, doctors, business women, and diplomats.  She told us that we can accomplish anything with resources, inspiration, and hard work.  She gained inspiration from mentors throughout her life, particularly a Spanish teacher who taught her that the world was bigger than her ten city block world she knew growing up.  She reminded us that we are all mentors to younger girls and we must be role models, and we all have the opportunity to shape a girl’s life just as her Spanish teacher has unknowingly had huge influence on her life.  WE may not always know or realize the lasting impact our life has on others.  We need to have the self-confidence to take the reins of our own life and our own empowerment.  It is important to not let others define us and that women have to step up and be the loudest voice in their own empowerment.

In the afternoon sessions, we continued with a renewed sense of inspiration and confidence thanks to the Ambassador.  It was now the counselors’ time to practice what they learned throughout the last two days.  They each presented one of the lessons that was presented the previous before.  This gave them the opportunity to gain confidence teaching the lessons and allowed us volunteers the opportunity to see if they had learned anything from our sessions (thankfully, they had).

At night we continued the confidence building with a talent show of singing, dancing, and dramas, capped off by PCVs synchronized swimming routine followed by a dance party and women stripping off their clothes to jump in the pool.  Pool party!  On the first day we talked about their fear of water and now with swim lessons we helped many women who were terrified of water in the beginning!  The swim lessons were unplanned but so powerful in that they showed so clearly the empowerment we were giving these women.  We, volunteers were physically holding the women up as we taught them to float and at the end, they may not have been able to do it completely on their own, but they gained the confidence that swimming wasn’t an impossibility and that the fear of water was something they could overcome.

Wow! What a great week.  I wish the words could do it justice.  I think the women learned a lot of information, but more importantly found power within themselves that they have the opportunity to help Swaziland grow into a better country where women have a voice and are not second class citizens anymore. 

Parting words from the Ambassador, “You cannot move forward if half your population is left behind.” “Think big, dream big, do big.”

Affirmation Wall

One nice feature of TOT was the Affirmation Wall where every woman, counselor and PCV, had an envelope where we could write each other notes throughout the training.  It really added to the atmosphere of positivity and togetherness throughout the week.  I will share some of mine:

-          You are so sweet, friendly, & accommodative.  Keep it up please.

-          I loved the swimming lessons.

-          It was nice to meet you.

-          I love your constant positive attitude and eagerness to help.

-          You are amazing.  Thanks for everything you shared.

-          I dearly love you.

-          Love your smile. Keep it up.

-          You are a good asset in Swaziland when it comes to women.

-          Hey beautiful lady.  It was so nice having you here and I loved the approach of your session.  You know that was smart.

-          If I had a brother, you would have been my sister-in-law. Lol

 Simply put, very successful TOT.  I feel very inspired and empowered myself.  Now we are already busy preparing for Camp GLOW which takes place April 29-May 4.

 

(Pictures to come hopefully on Saturday when I have more access to internet.)