I want to introduce you to my GLOW girls, to the girls whose
lives you helped.
Siphiwe Shongwe is a Form 4 (11th Grade) student,
18 years old. She has 5 sisters, no
brothers, and is the second youngest.
She really looks up to her sisters as role models. Siphiwe lives with her mother and
father. Her mother is a seasonal
agriculture worker in the sugarcane fields and the fruit season. Her father abandoned them as a young child,
but has since come back and supports his family by wood working, carving wooden
spoons and other kitchen utensils.
Siphiwe wants to go into nursing or social work for a career. If she pursues these career paths she will be
the first to attend university in her family.
Siphiwe is a quiet girl, but very thoughtful. She soaks up all the information we give her
and she comes ready and willing to participate in every activity. Her favorite session at camp was the
abstinence session. During that session,
they role-played ways to say ‘No’ and postpose sex. They also had an open conversation where they
asked any question about sex, relationships, and boys; a topic too taboo to
talk about in their home life.
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| Siphiwe Shongwe after dinner on night 3 |
Siphiwe was always willing to participate and usually the
first to participate. She knows what she
wants and goes for it. During camp,
Siphiwe was one of the first campers and most enthusiastic to learn how to make
washable sanitary pads, she was one of the first to share her poem during the
poetry session where she chose to write about HIV and how it affects her life,
and she did a wonderful job in the talent show as she portrayed the grandmother
of a girl who was to be married during a short drama/play.
Sizakele Dlamini, my second camper is 17 years old and in
Form 2 (9th Grade). She is
the 3rd eldest of nine children.
Most of her siblings are only half siblings as her mother was
traditionally married to another man after her father passes away. Sizakele only knows her father from pictures
that people have shown to her. When her
mother was married, that woman must move to the parental homestead of the
husband. Sizakele now lives with her
aunt and uncle while her mom lives far away near the north-east border of the
country. Sizakele sees her mother over
school breaks.
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| Sizakele Dlamini at Mabuda Farms Day Trip |
Sizakele told me about life at her home with her aunt and
uncle. She says she wakes up at 6am,
then she makes her bed, washes dishes, sweeps the house and yard, and polishes
her school shoes. She makes breakfast
which usually consists of sour porridge, a dish that I could never get used
to. At 7:00 she starts her 30 minute
walk to school. School starts at 7:45
and goes until 3:15. At school,
Sizakele
is responsible for looking after the toilets.
She has to make sure they are clean at the end of the day and supplied
with newspaper (toilet paper… ouch!).
After school, she goes home.
Wednesday is laundry day. She
must wash her school uniforms. Dinner is
usually porridge mixed with emasi (sour milk.. yuck!), but she ensures me that
she actually likes it and the other girls agree that they also like it even
though its curdled milk. After dinner is
over, Sizakele makes a point to tell me that is when she studies. Her favorite subjects in school are science
and English. She wants to be a doctor
when she grows up.
Sizakele’s favorite sessions at camp were the abstinence and
the STI lessons. She is looking forward
to teaching girls in our community about the things she learned while at Camp
this year. She even mentioned wanting to
be a counselor one day.
Sizakele is always smiling and laughing. She is a very talented dancer. She won ‘Best Solo Dance’ at the talent show
with her crazy moves. At school she is
the leader of the Girls Dance Group.
Sizakele choreographs the dances with one of the other girls in the
class and then teaches the dance to the rest of the girls. It is pretty impressive.
My last camper is Bandzile Ngenethwa . She
is 14 years old and in Form 1 (8th Grade). She is the 3rd eldest among seven
children. She lives with her mom who is
a math teacher about 45 minute bus ride from Bandzile’s school. Bandzile must leave home at 6am to get to
school on time. Her father passed away
in 2009.
Bandzile is such a thoughtful and responsible girl. Her teachers really respect her and
recommended her without a doubt. At
school, Bandzile is a prefect. She is
tasked with writing up any student who speaks siSwati in class and responsible
to set a good example for the other students in class. She favorite subjects are math and science
and she wants to be a doctor when she grows up.
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| Bandzile reading the poem she composed on Art Day |
Banzile really enjoyed Art Day at camp. She particularly liked painting and the
poetry and performance session. Bandzile
also shined during the talent show during a group dance. The dance was memorably capped off by one of
the deaf girls who took center stage for a hip-hop dance solo. The crowd went wild with sign language
applause.
There were two girls from the School for the Deaf this
year. It was great to watch their
interactions with the rest of the girls throughout the week, from how nervous
they were at the beginning to how well they integrated into the rest of the
group by the end. My girls were part of
their group throughout the week, going from session to session and together
with them in the dorms. I was proud at
how well they included the deaf girls in their activities and even tried to
learn some sign language.
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| With the two deaf girls who did an awesome job at camp! |
Last but not least, my counselor, a young woman we trained
during the January Training of Trainers.
Her name is FisiweDlamini, 20 years old, she finished high school last
year. She came to camp this year as one
of the youngest counselors. I was so
proud of her in the way she stepped up to be a leader among the counselors and
always with the biggest smile on her face.
She taught a lesson on STIs, and participated in a variety of other
lessons, she oversaw the camper in their chore responsibilities throughout the
week, and she could always be counted on to be doing her job.
At home, Fisiwe lives with her mother, father, little
sister, and her grandmother. She has
other sister who have married and moved out.
Her father is a police officer in town.
He comes home on weekends. Her
mother works as a cleaner at the high school she graduated from, the school
where Siphiwe attends. Her mother also
sells flavored ice blocks to the students during lunch
break.
Fisiwe is very active at her church teaching Sunday School.
She wants to continue her education so she can become a nurse.
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| Fisiwe in a session during Careers Day |
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