Girls Conference 2002

2002 Regional Girls' Conferences
Reports from the Organizers

Lower Guinea (Boké)

The Conference took place over 5 whole days at the CESTASE in Boké, during which 26 girls and 18 PCVs attended. The sessions were opened on February 15th by a representative from the US Embassy and the PCMO from Peace Corps. The final banquet featured the Prefet of Boké and a distribution of certificates and t-shirts to the participants and the 22 Guinean animators/mentors.
As an introductory session, the novel "La Revolte d'Affiba" by Regina Yaoul was distributed to each girl, upon which excerpts were read and analyzed. Most sessions were led by PCVs, who incorporated lots of activities from the PC Life Skills Manual in order to deal with subjects such as Decision Making, Gender Roles, Sexual Harrassment, Assertiveness, and HIV/AIDS. A session entitled What is Love? generated a debate on polygamy, early/arranged marriage, and commercial love (indirect prostitution). Plus, animated "Open Space" discussions touched upon Anatomy, Puberty, Family Planning, and STDs. In addition, a representative from CPTAFE showed a video on Female Genital Mutilation and led an interesting and sensitive presentation on the dangers of Excision. Another film was shown on women's rights, too. Other important part of the Conference was the four-hour presentations and interviews with a panel of professional Guinean women.
But it wasn't all serious work! Participants had a chance to create drawings and collages on female role models. They also spent an entire afternoon playing soccer and doing relay races such as water balloon tosses and other water-related games that were great considering the hot sun. Finally, a group of Peer Educators from Dubreka spent the final day teaching the participants how to prepare and deliver sensibilisations so that they will be able to bring all the information they learned at the Conference back to their communities. The coordinator of the Lower Guinea Conference, PCV Athena Pantazis said, "The girls seemed very receptive to our sessions and what we were trying to do. Some girls even produced a play during the conference for us."

Here are a couple letters expressing gratitude to those who financed, organized, and made the conference possible:

"Dear Friends of Guinea,

It is with great pleasure and satisfaction that we write you this thank you letter about your great effort and the help you provided for us Guinean girls. We sincerely thank you and the Americans from the US Peace Corps.
You provided us with the opportunity to enrich our knowledge because we attended sessions that interested us a lot during this Fifth Seminar for Young Women in the Fouta Djalon. These sessions included gender roles, sexual harassment, excision, depigmentation, sports, unwanted pregnancy, STDs/STIs, HIV/AIDS, etc. We learned about these things by doing different activities like models, skits, discussions with professional women and university students; and we did our own session on how to inform local students.
Now with the subjects we have learned, we can help our families, our community, and our classmates thanks to you -- the Americans who helped us and supported us. Please realize that this seminar was important to us and met our satisfaction. We enjoyed all of the sessions of the seminar.

Thank you.
-- by the young women of Gaoual:
Fatoumata Dialo Sow, 10th grade, 16 years old
and Fayelle Ly, 9th grade, 16 years old"

"Dear Friends and Supporters,
I would like to thank you as well. I think my girls have done a great job explaining their appreciation, but I just wanted to add that being here, watching these young women work and learn was a treat. For them to have this opportunity was an experience of a lifetime. They had a chance to be the center of attention and realize their importance and capability of helping their classmates and communities. Again I thank you for your suppor. Witnessing the success of the conference and the way the girls responded was a real gift. They will never forget their conference in Boké.

Sincerely,
Sara Prudent, PCV English teacher in Gaoual"

Here are comments from a female Peace Corps staff member who attended:

FELICITATIONS!! To the organizers of the Boké Girls conference. Being my first time of attending one of these conferences, I was very much impressed with the organization of the conference and the amount of time that you all must have put into the planning and co-ordination of the conference, to make it so successful.

I want to congratulate, especially Nicole Miller and Athena Pantazis for all the co-ordination work done. Congratulations also to all the session facilitators; those who were responsible for meal times, snack times, and taking turns to stay with the girls at their hostel. Those who were responsible for inviting the women for the role model panel. Everything went on very smoothly.
The two open space sessions that you had in the program were very informative. I noted that the girls really had fun doing the fun time, acting like someone according to the piece of paper they chose, and making book wrappers with pictures of some female celebrities and making it pretty with ribbons provided.

I am sure that the girls chosen to attend the conference did not only have fun out of it but gained a lot of very important information. I must say that the majority of them, if not all of them, were real role models themselves as was noticed in their participation and the questions they asked.
Congratulations for a job well done.
-Yvonne

Middle Guinea (Labé)

After the four days of the Labé Girls Conference, several volunteers commented that "the girls seemed transformed by the different topics they encountered and discussed." As the head coordinator Emily Ramshur said, "I overheard girls encouraging one another and really forming a bond of solidarity. By the last day, they seemed inspired and determined to fight for their rights and carry what they had learned back to their villages." She also mentioned that some of the more timid participants became more open and dynamic as the conference progressed. In total, 31 Guinean girls participated, 25 PC volunteers attended, and 20 Guinean adults (17 of which were women) helped out with sessions.
The Conference was opened by PC's own El Hadj Thiam, Ann Donnick of the US Embassy, the General Pascal from the Prefet of Labés office, and the Director of the Cabinet from the Governor's office.
Each day of the seminar dealt with a different theme: day one was "Education/Literacy," which featured sessions on Attitudes towards Women, Gender Roles, Women and Islam, and Girls in School; Day two was "Skills Development," which featured sessions on Public Speaking, Good Decision Making, Self Esteem, Resisting Peer Pressure, Relations with Men, and Mock Interviews; Day three was "Career Day," during which girls interviewed professional women and job shadowed; and finally the last day dealt with "Health and Community Development," more specifically Anatomy and Family Planning (presented by a nutritionist from the Ministry of Health), HIV/AIDS (presented by a 3rd year PCV working for PSI/OSFAM), and Excision/FMG (presented by a Guinean doctor from CPTAFE).
An especially interesting aspect of the seminar was a presentation by the poet Koumanthio Zenab Diallo entitled "Women, Feminism, and Literature," during which she introduced herself, her work, and her views and preceded to lead a discussion on Feminism and literature as a form of expression for girls and women. This was followed by a "poetry workshop" during which the girls had the opportunity to write their own poems, the best of which was read at the final banquet at Tata's Restaurant after the distribution of certificates and before the dancing with DJ Mik.

Here's a thank you letter from the organizers of the Conference in Labé:

"Dear Donors,

The Girls' Conferences are now finished. We are all thoroughly exhausted, but the conferences were a great success! I believe that the lives of some of the girls were truly affected. The changes will be small, but we are laying the foundation for the future empowerment of women

Thanks to your generous contribution, the 4th annual Girls' Conference in Labé, Guinea was a big success. Peace Corps Volunteers brought 31 middle school and high school girls from towns and villages in the Fouta Djalon region of Guinea to the regional capital, Labé, for five days of fun-filled, informative sessions intended to educate and inspire the young women.

Women and girls in Africa, and especially in Guinea, have a tough time because of the many obstacles they must overcome in order to be successful. Gender equality is one of the problems stifling development in Guinea. The goal of this conference was to empower these impressionable girls, to boost their self confidence, and to give them tools to educate their peers back in the villages. We can honestly say that our goals were very successfully met.

The conference began with a good turnout of Guinea government officials, US Embassy officials, and members of the Peace Corps administration. The sessions over the next few days were led by Peace Corps Volunteers and professional Guinean women from the community. All the girls this year were attentive, enthusiastic; and participation was great. We are proud of all the girls and are sure we made a positive, sustainable impact on their lives.

We could not have done this without your help. Thanks again for helping us make a difference in these girls' lives, and thank you for your continued support of Peace Corps' projects.

Sincerely,

The Peace Corps Volunteers of the Fouta Djalon region in the Republic of Guinea"

Here are comments from a female Peace Corps staff member who attended:

Labe girls' conference went very well. The sessions were well structured and well planned. The participants (the girls) were really eager to learn. They asked pertinent questions. It really was a group of dynamic, curious girls. I had the impression that each girl was happy to be there and wanted to use every second to get something out of the conference for herself. They were not timid at all. From the personal contact I had with some of them, I got positive feedback. They were mostly very grateful to PC for giving them the opportunity to get vital information concerning life.

As for volunteer's roles, I found them very supportive understanding and patient toward the girls.

My personnel feeling is that "the girls' conference" is the BEST thing that I have seen PC do because I think that the impact will be so very positive both for the young women involved, but also for Guinea.

Congratulations to all whom contributed to the success of these conferences!

Saranfi Kaba

Upper Guinea (Kankan)

"Send me your photo and one million guinean francs." That was the email message sent from a couple of girls to their friends who were sitting at a computer across the room in the Information Technology room at the University of Kankan during the 5th Annual Young Girls Seminar in Kankan. All 33 young female participants got a chance to send emails, to create moving images on PowerPoint, and to manipulate a digital camera and its images on a laptop. It was the first time that most of them had even touched a computer keyboard. Holding the Conference at the University of Kankan was very inspiring to the girls, as they got a tour of the entire campus, talked to students during the breaks, and even participated in skits and presentations run by University students and a female professor of electronics.
Unlike last year, there wasn't a water crisis and so things went smoothly as far as lodging and feeding the girls. The presence of 39 PCVs and four representatives of the PC Staff, including the Director himself, was also a great help for the success of the seminar. The US Ambassador, Barrie Walkley (a former PCV in Somalia), made the conference even more special for the participants by stopping in to encourage them and to shake everyone's hand. Other honorary guests included the Secretary General to the Prefet, and the Director and Assistant Director of the University of Kankan.
The Conference began by a motivational speech from the representative of Save the Children and a University student. Then the entire first day dealt with literacy, the importance of staying in school, study habits, good role models, and professional job opportunities. On the last day, the girls even got a chance to job shadow professional women at their offices in town, and learn how to conduct an interview with them.
The second and third days were concerned with Reproductive Health, during which a mid-wife from Kerouané led a session on anatomy and puberty, PRISM dealt with Family Planning and contraception, PCVs presented interactive sessions on HIV/AIDS (most of which came from the PC Life Skills Manual), a film was shown on STDs (Epidémie de l'Ombre) and another video featured a touching documentary on a Person Living with HIV/AIDS (Fils d'Afrique). A representative from CPTAFE also did a presentation of FMG/excision. And finally a group of peer educators from PSI/OSFAM in Kankan led a series of skits, discussions, and condom-use demonstrations.
In addition to all the informational sessions, there were lots of fun activities : watching the Lion King in French at the rented out cinema; yoga; writing in journals; making friendship bracelets; sitting on one another's knees as a confidence-building exercise; playing frisbee, soccer and basketball; writing poems for the PC publication Aicha Magazine; and dancing up a storm at the final banquet.

Here's a letter addressed to the organizers and sponsors of the Conference, written by a participant at the Kankan seminar:

"Dear Sponsors and Organizers,

It is a great pleasure to present myself to you. My name is Fatoumata Sampou and I am from Kankan. I am a student in the last year of High School, studying Social Sciences. I participated in the fifth Girls' Conference of Upper Guinea, which allowed me to meet many other girls from my region.
At the conference, we had a lot of sessions, but what impressed me the most was the one concerning HIV/AIDS because it allowed us to realize that AIDS does in fact exist and how we can avoid it as well as other STDs. Also, the session on Family Planning which informed us on the methods of contraception in order to avoid STDs and unwanted pregancies. At the conference, I participated in debates concerning the subjects that were presented which gave all of us participants an opportunity to share our ideas with the other girls. The seminar was very participatory and interactive.
Thanks to this seminar, as soon as I return home I will be able to inform my friends, brothers, sisters, and relatives so that they too can avoid the negative consequences of the diseases and problems that are all around us. I thank you for the effort you have made for the success of this seminar and I inform you that I am very appreciative.
Best wishes and thanks again.
Fatoumata Sampou "

Anne Marie, Asmaou, Kim, George and Kadi Sow participated to this year Haute Guinea's Girls Conference that took place from February 14th to 19th 2002. Here are their comments

A total of 34 girls selected by Volunteers came from several prefectures and sous prefectures of Haute Guinée.

Several sessions such as Family Planning, Girls in school, HIV/AIDs/STDs, Excision, Anatomy and Puberty etc… were animated by the PC female staff and the Volunteers. During day 4, the girls went out to observe and interview some professional women at their work place in order to see how they manage their work and their life as traditional women.

All girls were happy to be selected to participate to this year conference. After we had interviewed some of the girls, they said that, they learnt a lot and would like to pass the message upon their return to their homes (villages).

We were really impressed by the organization, content and roles plays. Girls found answers to most of their question in the roles plays done by Hawa Keîta (Julia Watkins)and most of the questions raised up. This is something I really enjoyed.

We take this opportunity to thank all PCVs who were involved in the organization, and would like to congratulate especially Julia Watkins, Rachael Sunny and Armelle Casau the Coordinators who did everything for the success of the conference. As well as other PCVs: Kristin, Erik, Dana, Amanda, Hilary, Elizabeth, Jess, Christin, Josh, Urska, Conrad, Kye, Ha, Dimitri, Jen, Wes, Sarah, Matt, Harmon, Annie, Gary, Jeff etc….

· Kadi Sow

Lelouma Prefecture Girls' Conference
Held in November 2001

[This conferences is a spin off of the larger Girls' Conferences and shows the one way that those annual conference are having a very broad affect in Guinea.]

The Lelouma Prefecture Girls' Conference went amazingly well with help from all the Lelouma Volunteers (Owen Okie, Smatt Read, Sharon Gipson, Blessing Asuquo, Adam Trotta and Laurel Grimm) helping out. Teresa Williams also came to do her public speaking presentation for the girls and helped out with other sessions while she was there. We had 33 girls, aged 11-19, from all 10 sous-prefectures and the Commune of Lelouma. They started off shy, of course, but with the help of Issagha Diallo, an alumna from last year's Labe Conference and the interactions between the "city"girls and the younger "village" girls they opened up and had a great time. One afternoon an unseasonable downpour kept us from finishing all our Career Day conversations but we were back on track the next day throwing condoms around the room and coming up with "le meilleur reponse". The first day, Smatt did a great session of logic games to get the girls thinking critically. It was nice to see how quickly some of the girls caught on. Our Career day women were great, as well. It seemed alot of the girls would like to become ministers, though our 11 year-old star's mom is the Vice-Mayor of Lelouma, so she probably already has politics in her blood.

We started Health Day by splitting into a younger group (Blessing and Sharon talked with them about female reproductive health) and an older group but when the younger girls started asking about condoms we decided to reunite for the rest of the games.
Throughout the conference we looked back at the Life Skills Manual for energizers when they were looking tired or bored. Most of the girls mentioned the AIDS/STDs games as their favorite session on the evaluation. When the DPSPs came for the last day they were all amazingly supportive of the information the
girls had covered and what we gave them when they came. We broke into small groups to make a plan d'action for each sous-prefecture and had to hold back a few over ambitious counterparts who wanted to do more than the girls were up to. We're still checking in with them and hope that they'll find ways they're comfortable with to share this with people in their villages.

-Laurel Grimm