Big Sisters

Saturday, Kaitlyn, a Volunteer in a village about 50 miles from my town brought in a group of ten 6th grade girls to see the “big city” and meet ten girls who have made it to their junior year in high school.  The purpose was to show the young girls what opportunities existed after middle school as well as provide some role models for them of girls who have continued and succeeded in their education, similar to the Big Brothers/Big Sisters program in the US.  After a tour of my high school, the 2 groups of girls met up, did an activity to break the ice, ate lunch together, and then talked in a big group about their experiences, difficulties, and goals.  It was a lot of fun to watch their interactions and I think both groups of girls benefitted from the experience – the young girls learning by example and the older girls reaffirming what they have achieved against the odds.

Kaitlyn and a chaperone from village with the 10 sixth graders and 10 juniors at my high school. They look miserable but I promise most of the rest of the time they were smiling.

 

The girls played an icebreaker game to learn everyone's names. The younger girls were shy for the most part but the older girls did a great job of getting them to speak.

Completely unrelated and nowhere near as cute, this was a pile of sand and dust that I swept up just from my living room after a dust storm this week. I guess many people in Africa have dirt floors instead of concrete but they often become one and the same here.

 

 

About these ads