Goal Girls Spotlight: Changes in Chongqing

Li Qian, student at Yuzhong Vocational Education Institute, Chongqing, China

I came from a remote rural area in China to study in Chongqing. I had to leave for Chongqing because I failed the entrance examination for senior middle school due to my poor Mandarin. I have always had low self-esteem and refused to communicate with others. In their eyes, I was different.

When I participated in the Goal Activities, the atmosphere had a strong impact on me. I actively expressed my own opinions and experiences with other participants and the leader. My ability to communicate has improved and now I am an active student; even others are seeing the change! I am very happy to have this change. Although my Mandarin is still poor, I believe that it will progress as long as I make an effort. I will take every opportunity to practice and to talk, and I firmly believe that I will succeed.

I have also learnt a lot on female physiology and pregnancy, such as the girl's menstrual cycle and sexual health. This knowledge is very useful for girls to protect themselves. I remembered when I experienced my first menstrual period; I was scared so I secretly told my mom. She only told me how to deal with it but not why it happened. Also I was afraid my brother would find out. Before the training, I was even embarrassed to buy sanitary napkins in the supermarket, especially if the shop assistant was male. After participating in Goal activites, I now know it is the girl's normal physiological response. We have grown up so we should have the right attitude and approach to deal with these things.

Additionally, I want to be one member of the Goal Champion team. I will work hard to learn this curriculum and these activities, and strive to pass the assessment to be a leader.

We're honoured :)

It's no secret that we love Beyond Sport in these parts. We've even found new and soon-to-be partners through their network (more on that later). So we were tickled pink to find out we had been shortlisted for the 2011 Beyond Sport Award for Corporate of the Year.

We'll find out if we've won at this year's summit in December in South Africa. In the meantime though, check out our application and feel free to comment!

Welcome to Mpape

Nestled on the rocky hills of Abuja sits a town called Mpape, an underdeveloped satellite settlement, heavily populated by the native Gbagi tribe.

Due to exorbitant house rental prices many low income earners, often uneducated farmers, opt to live in the more affordable underdeveloped communities where education is highly undervalued. Although they do enrol their children in public school, since they are either free or highly subsidised, there is often little or no supervision and teachers are so stretched that it’s hard to spend a decent amount of time with them.

It is this very environment the Youth Empowerment Foundation discovered at Junior Secondary School Mpape. Determined to make a difference, Goal was implemented at the school and produced excellent results. On introducing the programme they faced a few constraints but these were soon overcome. The principle, Mrs Kuburat Yabasi, believed Goal to be hugely beneficial to the school; “The children are getting better by the day in terms of their leadership characters. They organise themselves to hold meetings, develop programs and ideas among themselves”.

As part of the intervention programme the Goal champions implemented their ‘service learning project’ which focuses on academic excellence, peer pressure and HIV/AIDS and girl child education. The programme was a huge success and attended by over 100 participants! In his closing remarks, the vice Principal, Mr. Crown Olagoke, stated: “In the history of JSS Mpape, and since my transfer to this school over five years ago, students have never organised and coordinated a programme on their own without the input of teachers or adults, and with this I know Goal indeed has a goal”.

Photo: Goal girls graduating from the school

Female warriors of futeball

Meet the Guerreiras or 'female warriors' of Brazil football.




The Guerreira project started last September and is a documentary of 40 female footballers who play for the Brazilian club Santos F.C.

At the start:
"These female players have not only represented a threat to Brazilian masculinity, but have also been perceived as encroaching in a disgraceful manner on one of the nation’s primary sources of pride and collective identity."

Only very recently are attitudes beginning to change. You could view this as a small step towards gendre equality because these female warriors are getting noticed and stadiums are beginning to fill up. However, with this increasing publicity comes another pressure. Image. These players are expected to wear "slim-fit uniforms, grow their hair long, wear make-up on the pitch, and put skirts on after the game." It seems that there's still a very long way to go.

Stay updated with the latest project news.

Spotlight: Juliet

Before signing up to the Goal programme in Nigeria, 10 year old Juliet was very shy. Now, she’s become a lot more confident. She’s already respected by all the Goal girls- even those who are older than herself. She is a natural leader and is great at coordinating football sessions as well as encouraging other Goal girls to arrive at the life skills training on time.

When asked to get permission from her parents to continue Goal in the school holidays, Juliet replied that this would not be a problem as her parents are great supporters of the programme.

Her parents have noticed that since enrolling in Goal, Juliet has changed. In her own words: “I’m now less offensive” towards others. They encourage their daughter to participate in as many Goal sessions as possible. Juliet has learnt not only how to avoid conflicts but also how important this life skill is.

Juliet is ambitious and determined when it comes to her future plans:
"My father is a driver for one of the private schools in the neighbourhood and my mother is a full housewife, I don’t in anyway want to be like my mother. I want to be a medical doctor and nothing will stop me in achieving my dream".

Global Girls news: 29 June

Latest bite-sized news just for you!

• The Women’s Football World Cup has kicked off in Germany! Check out all the latest results.
  



• One of the world’s top women’s footballer, Marta Vieira da Silva from Brazil, has spoken out: “I have been given opportunities to succeed in life, but I constantly think about the ones who did not have this chance... Only through women’s full and equal participation in public and private life can we hope to break poverty cycles”. Read more!
  



• ‘Girls love their bodies!’- World YWCA New Zealand are on a mission to change the way girls think of their bodies: “Young women face intense pressure to look perfect but perfect is an impossible ideal to achieve. [We] teach young women to love their own body and stop comparing themselves with others” says Kathryn Doughty, Team Leader of the YWCA Auckland Future Leaders programme.

Spotlight: Sangeetha

Sangeetha, was just a shy girl in the 9th grade in Thoraipakkam School, Chennai, when she joined Goal in January 2010. Her father worked in a pharmaceutical factory, fitting the covers on pills, and her mother worked as a helper: sweeping, dusting and cleaning for a pittance of a salary. Within a year of the Goal Program, Sangeetha has come out of her shell, and become a Goal Champion, in more ways than one.

A year ago, no one would have suspected that this skinny girl, from such a modest family background, would go on to play in an International Netball Tournament against teams from Sri Lanka, as she did in December, 2010.

Up until now I was always told that girls must not jump, or play or move their bodies so boldly. But here, with Nalamdana, through Goal, I have learnt to move and play and be confident about my body. I have learnt about the female body, what the various parts are, what their functions are, how to take care of them, etc. This I would not have known anywhere else.

Totally dedicated and responsible, she helps with organizing events at her school, taking pictures for the Goal programme and now, in 2011 as a Goal Champion she assists the Coaches, and delivers netball sessions to the new recruits. She sees her role as a Champion as an additional opportunity. She is excited that she has been selected as a Champion. She sees this as a chance to share all that she has learnt with others and ensure that the transfer of skills and knowledge doesn’t stop with her!

In April 2011, her father died of cancer, leaving Sangeetha’s family devastated. Her mother has the household expenses, her fees and her younger sister’s school expenses also to take care of, on her almost negligent wage. Yet, within 4 days of her father’s death, Sangeetha was at the Goal session, organizing the girls, conducting warm up exercises and taking attendance. Her commitment to the programme and the girls is astounding!
Sangeetha dreams of becoming a photographer. She has been taking many of the pictures during the Goal sessions and events with the Goal Camera.

Sangeetha has been exposed to the Standard Chartered Bank Employee volunteers through Goal and she says: “Seeing the volunteers from SCB come and interact with us, I observed their way of dressing, their way of talking, and the confidence in their attitude. I hope that some day I too will be able to dress like that and talk to others, instilling confidence in them, like these people do.”