Young Women in Humjibre Demonstrate "The Importance of Girl Child Education"

The 2011 Girls' Empowerment Camp

While leading an orientation session for the volunteers, GHEI country director Clement Donkor made an acute observation.

“Many times people don’t clean up after themselves and leave the dishes for the daughter or the mother of the family to clean all of them. So a day’s dishes will accumulate till a girl has to sit down and do all the dishes at once. This can take a lot of time, and this also monopolizes their time, time that could be spent benefiting themselves and their community.”

Young women occupy a fundamental role in families here, but one that remains unsung and almost unnoticed. As we heard from Christina Gyening, the education of a young woman is a struggle. Even if a family is supportive, others in the community may not be, and will sometimes ridicule the idea, or even the girl herself.

…

Junior High School students in Ghana have just finished their BECE exams to determine whether they can move on to Senior High School. They have four months before they find out if they passed. It's a nerve wracking time: Senior High School can mean a future beyond the village you grew up in, and not passing the BECE can mean drastically few options.

For girls who have completed the BECE, the pressure on them is even more intense. If they do pass, will their family want them to go to SHS? Will there be enough money to go? Even if there is money and she does pass, will she be kept in the village anyways?

…

GHEI has focused on supporting girl’s achieving education excellence since the introduction of The Girls' Empowerment Camp in 2006 but even before, with the YEP program. This focus on the improvement of girl’s education is reflected in the steady increase in girl’s BECE passing grades in Humjibre, from 4% of girls passing their BECE in 2001 to a 98% pass rate in 2009.

In this time between finishing her schooling and starting her future, GHEI runs the Girls' Empowerment camp for these young women. Girls' Empowerment Camp is designed as an intentional space where young woman can build confidence, work as a team, and have fun celebrating themselves as what many in the community don't often notice them to be: strong, bright, and full of potential.

This year, the girls are performing a small play called “The Importance of Girl Child Education.” Christina Gyenning wrote the script, and Aggie Obeng and Jen Artibello are helping direct it. It is a story told from the parent’s point of view: one family sends their daughter to school; the other family only sends their son. The play examines which family ends up happier, the family that invests equally in their children, or the family that neglects their daughter.

The girls have been meeting regularly since May, have already memorized their lines, and are dedicating themselves to putting on a good show. Check back with us to see more of “The Importance of Girl Child Education” and hear more from the girls involved.

Share |