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The PS 8 LitWorld Girls’ Club launched today, January 10, 2011 in Brooklyn. Twelve brave young ladies listened to their teacher attempt to sing the “Hello Song” and without a blink of the eye, they took the lead and the right tune and were off and running. The Name Game proved to be a dramatic performance with the girls adding movements to their catching adjectives such as “Magnificent Mia” and “Spectacular Schuyler”. Our newest addition, “Excellent Ella” is a twin sister from another class who jumped right in and joined the fun. The read aloud, “The Peace Book” by Todd Parr mirrored many of the discussions we have in class and in our Drama program. Our discussion about how to spread peace throughout the world could have gone on for the entire hour itself. Once I told the girls we could blog and talk with other Girls Clubs especially with our webcam, well, I lost them for a few minutes. “Can we do it now?” They were so excited! As the hour came to a close, we were knee deep in poster making trying to find the right words and images to appropriately model the Girls Clubs’ Seven Strengths. The girls filed out singing the “Good bye” song and greeted their parents with smiles. It was a quite a successful first day and we are looking forward to our next meeting!

Check back in for photos and more reflections from Marybeth and PS.8. There will be more to come soon, and we can’t wait to share!

Earlier this month, the LitWorld Harlem Girls Clubs had the pleasure of meeting Arianna Huffington. Ms. Huffington’s warm spirit was so inspiring and contagious, that the younger girls wouldn’t leave her side! She was elegant, welcoming, and approachable all at the same time, a demeanor that many of the teen girls admired. She listened intently to the girls’ stories, and shared her own.

She offered stories of courage and fearless pursuit of dreams, and, joined by our Executive Director Pam Allyn, they both reminded us all of our power to become the best women we can be.

Joining hands for the Farewell Song

Ms. Huffington with Executive Director Pam Allyn and members of the LitWorld Board

We hope to see Ms. Huffington again soon. Until then, we’ll keep you posted on our next cycle of Harlem Girls Club, starting again January 2011!  – Ruby

After the first meeting for the Venos Girls Clubs in Erbil, Iraq, most of the young women now have the spirit to be leaders and to make change.

I asked them, “What is the thing that made you happy last week?” , and all of them responded that participating in the Venos Girls Club is the most important thing that makes them happy. They think about their Girls Club all week until their next meeting arrives.

When they were asked about what they benefited from since the first Girls Club meeting, this is what the young women had to say:

Arazo: When I told you about my story, I felt happy for the first time because you shared my story. This pushed me more and more to be active and make a change in my life. Even when my family saw that I started to think in a different way , they encouraged me to attend these workshops till the end, and they also encouraged my sister to participate in this program.

 
Aisha: I told my colleague in the hospital about this important workshop, and we started to make a group to help keep the hospital clean. Now the girls there want to participate in these workshops with me!

 
Marwa: My family was so interested when they saw the change in the way of my thinking. After I told them the details about the program, they sent my sister with me to benefit from it.

 
All of the girls also established an environmental group in their school and led a cleaning campaign  for the school yards and garden, and also donated different books and stories  for their school library.

 
Renas: One of the girls in the school (not in our  club group) made fun of me when she saw me cleaning the school yard, but this behavior pushed me more and more toward my goal to make my school clean and better.

The girls in the program are already becoming transformed, feeling proud to be a part of this global movement for girls. Surely, there will be more positive change to report for the next one!

- As reported by the Erbil, Iraq Girls Club Facilitator, Saadia F.Hassoon

LitWorld Girls Clubs Harlem Preparing for Arianna’s visit!

This Fall session has been filled with a lot of amazing discussions, new perspectives, and of course, exposure to new literature. The girls have grown so much, and their thirst for reading has only gotten more potent. They are filled with new visions and new personal missions of how they can affect the world around them. It arrives at such perfect timing then, that our closing ceremony for this Fall session will include a visit from a powerful female role model, Arianna Huffington.

We’ve spent the past few sessions preparing for her visit, rehearsing their written pieces to read aloud to Ms. Huffington, and practicing their introductions. I am very proud to introduce these remarkable young women to a woman who has achieved many things with confidence and courage.

Stay tuned for more photos after tonight’s event. We will be uploading them shortly!

-Ruby

If you have visited this blog before, you are familiar with LitWorld’s work in empowering young women in countries such as Kenya, Iraq, Ghana, Liberia, and in various locations in the U.S.

This Holiday season, we have decided to engage our international community in a gift that lasts a lifetime:  launching five new Girls Clubs sites throughout the world. LitWorld Girls Clubs for literacy provides mentoring, literacy & leadership workshops, health & safety information, and lessons on female empowerment & the importance of education to girls in vulnerable communities. We equip these young women to become literacy leaders, thus allowing them to be more self-sufficient, educated, and empowered.

Please visit our Global Giving page on how you can give your gift to girls , and please tell your friends to pass the word along. You can also watch our video below, and go to this link for more information!

When we asked the girls about their goals , their replies were as follows:
- To be a journalist not only on Iraq level, but on the world level, in order to let the world hear an Iraqi woman’s voice.
-To be a police officer, in order to enforce and apply the  law.
-To  explore the world by traveling and learning the people’s customs and traditions.
-To be an Arabic teacher in order to help other Kurdish people to know the language of their partners( Arab people) in Iraq.

The girls felt so empowered, they elected club officers to create a more formal organization of the club and spread its mission even further to other young women. They’ve even officially named the club as the Venus Girls Club in Erbil.

The girls exchanged their stories, and were so pleased to have the right of speech and to have the freedom to express their ideas. Our second meeting is set for the earlier part of 2011. More to come soon!

As reported by Girls Club Erbil Leader, Saadia Hassoon

Aside from their quilting project, the girls in Kibera have also been discussing peaceful tactics for conflict resolution, and dialoguing about peer pressure and self-respect. Talks on health and hygiene have also been important topics, resulting in their story project, “Nesla’s Dillema”.  As you might remember from our previous post, the Kibera girls have also been exploring ideas of esteem, and celebrating the multifaceted beauty of black women through their photo shoot project, “A Girl Is…”.

We can’t wait to see the new adventures the upcoming year has in store for the Kibera girls. We thank Joscelyn and Jeff for their inspiring leadership in Kenya!