SADLY, THIS WAS MY LAST DAY AT THE EMPOWERMENT FOR GIRLS. THE PROGRAM WILL BE CONTINUING IN JANUARY, BUT I WILL NOT BE RETURNING. TO REFLECT ON THE PROGRAM SO FAR WE HAD THE GIRLS FIND PICTURES IN MAGAZINES THAT SHOW WHO THEY ARE WHILE COMBINING WHAT WE HAVE TALKED ABOUT THIS SEMESTER. THEY CUT OUT THE PICTURES AND MADE BEAUTIFUL COLLAGES. IT WAS SAD TO SAY GOODBYE, AND HOPEFULLY I MADE A DIFFERENCE IN AT LEAST ONE GIRLS LIFE. I HAVE ALSO LEARNED A LOT ABOUT MYSELF TOO. I KNOW I COULD NEVER WORK WITH YOUNG PEOPLE ALL THE TIME OR AS A JOB, BUT IT WAS A GOOD EXPERIENCE TO HAVE. THIS PROGRAM HAS HELPED ME REMEMBER WHAT IT WAS LIKE TO BE THAT AGE AND RE-CONNECT WITH WHAT I USE TO FEEL LIKE. IT WAS ALSO A GREAT WAY TO CONNECT WITH GIRLS YOUNGER THAN THEMSELVES, AND I MUST ADMIT, IF FEELS GOOD THO BE LOOKED UP TO!

Reflectology Workshop

I attended a reflection workshop for Service Learning where we talked about our experiences at our site. It was interesting to hear about what others had to say about their site and the differences of experiences. Some people were not having a positive experience with their project because they don't have a lot of people interaction. Some others do the same thing every week and don't feel like they are accomplishing anything. This made me think of how lucky I am to have such a good interaction with the girls at my site. I like my fellow mentors and the younger girls that I work with. This workshop was a great reflection of my experiences and opened my eyes to new situations and problems.

Today we covered racial issues. This topic ties into the social justice and white privilege we are discussing in principia class. We did a fun activity where we thought of phrases that had the word "white" of "black" in them. Most of the white phrases turned out to be positive, and the black ones negative. I don't think that some of the girls really understood that black and white connected to race. It is a hard topic to discuss, because we don't want to offend or hurt anyones feelings or give them a wrong impression about a race. We did the best we could though.
The other mentors and I still think that it would be a great idea to do more hands- on activitys that the girls can really get into. Even though the information we present to them is excellent, I feel like it would be more fun and get girls more involved if we did more projects.

Today was a really fun day, and I think the girls really enjoyed it. We passed out "me" dolls and then decorated them with markers, yarn and beads. We made them unique like ourselves. Some made unique outfits or drew hearts on the chest to show they were caring. Others drew themselves playing sports or drawing. After we were done with the "me" dolls, we talked about effective ways to tell people that something they are doing bothers us. An example would be if someone is talking loudly, a nice way to let them know that it bothers us it to say, "would you please try to talk more quiet? It is distracting me." They girls had very good ideas on how to deal with uncomfortable situations and their participation was excellent.
I think that the girls are opening up a little more because they are feeling more comfortable with the other girls and with the mentors as well. I don't know if some of the girls always have some woman figure to talk to at home, so I hope this program will help them feel comfortable enouph to talk to the mentors about anything they might need help with.

Today there were not that many girls that showed up for the program. That is somewhat discouraging. There is another program that keeps some of the girls form coming until later in the day.
We discussed different views in the world. Examples include how many people speak a certain language, how many perform a certain relgion, ages, gender, places of origin etc. The girls were asked to guess how many people did or represent a certain thing if there is only 1,000 people in the world. We then gave them the real answers. Some of them were stunning. Then we drew pictures of the how we see the world now that we learned the facts. Some girls did not really understand the full meaning, so we tried giving them examples. Like there are more Christians than Hindus, etc.
I wish that there were more girls to interact with in the program, so we are trying to recruit more. I think that some of the issues we deal with have to deal with an understanding of social justice and how to relate to them in the world. Hopefully we are getting through to the girls with these issues!

Nothing out of the ordinary occured today. We drew pictures as to what we thought made people different from each other. Examples include, being athletic, musical or smart. Then we thought of things that described ourselves, such as being a daughter or an artist. We discussed them with a partner we wanted to get to know better. Then we talked about the stereotypes that might come with the things that distinguish us. Another girl added to the program today! A few girls were absent though.

Today was a very interactive day for the girls. We discussed what the girls felt were healthy and unhealthy relationships. We created tiny skits with a partner we wanted to get to know better. The skits entailed healthy and unhealthy ways to react to different situations.The situations had to deal with how to handle including everyone with out hurting anyones feelings. I feel like some of the girls have issues with how to deal with the peer pressure of fighting. They had a hard time understanding how to avoid fights or how to get help to stop it from happening. We discussed ways to handle fights, and I hope we got through to the girls.