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Adolescent girls in South Africa, United States of America and Tanzania took the initiative to create a network through which they could help each other and learn from each other. other.
The girls have just completed a 10-day journey on the road where they visited various parts of the Western Cape distributing sanitary napkins in disadvantaged communities, challenging each other to face their fears and engage in strength activities.
The group also engaged in intergenerational conversations with leaders of the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development and the travel and tourism industry. visited the Worcester Thuthuzela health center and court to discuss the impact of violence on girls and women.
The BRAVE SA-US Girls' Journey is a joint initiative of the US Consulate General in Cape Town and BRAVE, a South African non-profit organization.
Ferlin Du Preez, 18, of Gugulethu, was one of the founding members of Brave in 2010.
Ferle Du Preez de Gugulethu says that youth activism is essential if the challenges to which are facing girls and women must be overcome. She was speaking on the occasion of #BRAVE_SA Girls' road trip to the United States held at @USConsulateCT on Friday. pic.twitter.com/KrLkklF0tb
– Noloyiso Mtembu (@NoloyisoMtembu)
July 27, 2018
She said that the organization was on creating safe spaces for girls in communities in South Africa and that its scope was expanding to create a network of girls around the world.
She said that they started concerned about their physical safety in communities in Cape Town.
"One of the things we did was to draw benches with contact details so that anyone could call whenever he felt the need to talk to someone or a shoulder to cry. "said Du Preez.
Six girls from Girls for Gender Equity and other organizations led by American girls, seven South African girls from BRAVE and two Tanzanian girls
from the Singita Grumeti Fund Girls Empowerment Program also participated to the trip. One of Tanzania's girls, 16-year-old Rabiya Mbawala, spoke of girl poverty in her home country, adverse cultural beliefs and early pregnancies.
Rabiya Mbawala from the Mara Region of Tanzania describes how girls from her home country are forced to miss school during their menses because they did not no sanitary towels. She is one of the girls who participated in the journey of #BRAVE_SA in the United States which ended yesterday. pic.twitter.com/ey7XHHqBiC
– Noloyiso Mtembu (@NoloyisoMtembu)
July 27, 2018
She said that because of lack of resources, during menstruation, girls were forced to stay at home or use pieces of cloth as sanitary napkins.
In schools where there were no toilets to change, girls were forced to wear their sanitary napkins in their school bags to get rid of them at home.
Mbawala said that in some communities, girls were withdrawn from school. trained to be married women.
"When they come back, they do not want to go back to school, they just want to be married," he said.
The girls said they learned that their experiences and challenges were similar.
Imani Maliti of the Bronx, New York, talks about the similarities in the lived experiences of girls and women of color in her home country and in South Africa during the travel event of the young girls in the United States hosted by @USConsulateCT today. More in @WeekendArgus Saturday. pic.twitter.com/ny4nk1WFhV
– Noloyiso Mtembu (@NoloyisoMtembu)
July 27, 2018
For Imani Maliti, age 17, from the Bronx, New York, the similarities in the lives of girls and women of color were surprising.
"In the United States, we are still affected by When I arrived in Cape Town, I noticed that girls and women of color are affected by years of apartheid and d & # 39; oppression, "said Maliti." This shows that there is a link in our struggles and struggles. by coming together, we can overcome, "she said.
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