Girls’ education is among the things that the Malawi Government is encouraging in the country, as part of the “50:50 Campaign” to achieve equal opportunities for both men and women. The government is working towards Millennium Development Goal 3; to promote gender equality and empower women.
To support this, Team Sapitwa visited Providence Girls' Secondary School with a career-guidance training session. The main aim of the session was to inspire the girls by bringing in talks on different careers from volunteers who have “been there and done it” or are still underway.
Besides meeting and inspiring the girls, the session was planned as a way of reforming the once-active Environmental/Wildlife Club.
With the help of a teacher at the school, who also happens to be one of the patrons of the Zone Environmental Club, the team engaged 140 students who were willing to listen, participate and reactivate the Environmental/Wildlife Club.
In the career talk Taonga, Natasha and Albert took turns in inspiring the students by talking about their personal experience in school and their professions. They also talked about how far they have gone pursuing their dream, what it took to achieve all that, the challenges they met and how they have overcome the challenges.
The students were given a chance to ask questions on each talk which encouraged them a little more because they were provided with the necessary information on Law, Journalism and Public Health. The girls were also encouraged to work towards achieving a certain goal in life.
George inspired the girls with a personal family story and had a few girls talk about what they want to achieve in life and how they plan to achieve all that.
In his remarks the teacher expressed his gratitude to the team. The teacher told us that he did not at all expect what had happened, as he thought the team will only focus on environmental issues. He had learnt that ICS Progressio volunteers were able to bring their experiences to help others in many areas.
The teacher also promised the team that the Environmental/Wildlife club would be reformed, and assured the team that we will be involved in the launch at the school.
Written by ICS volunteers in Sapitwa
