Providing Girls with the Tools for a Hopeful and Confident Future
The Palala Girls Club targets Grades 6 and 7 girls just before they leave primary school and move onto secondary school. This is a very transitional time of life for this age group and the girls are still eager to define who they are and be molded. The girls are searching for role models and acceptance. The Palala Girls Club gives the girls not only the sense of belonging and positive mentors, but the tools that equip them to be strong contributors when entering their next phase of life.
The most important issue the Palala Girls Club addresses each week is making the girls feel comfortable and safe in a female-only setting. Ranging from 31 to 54 girls each week, the size is larger than your typical American classroom, but we balance it out by having additional leaders to provide a ratio of 5 girls to each leader present. This allows the PGC to give the girls their personalized attention while maintaining our maximum affect in the community.
In addition, while the main focus and reason for existence of the PGC is to create awareness and prevention of AIDS, the PGC has chosen to focus on the entire development of the girls including mind, body and soul. The lessons range from Peer Pressure and Physical Fitness to Fetal Development and Realities of Rape and Abuse. This variety in lessons allows the girls to learn many things that typical children in the Developed World would learn from their parents, but with the absence of parental figures in their lives, the PGC‘s addition of such lessons gives the girls a chance to gain knowledge they otherwise would learn through experience and possibly harsh mistakes. The added benefit of approaching a club that is so diverse in topics is that the lesson intensity is gradually increased and by the time the lesson on HIV/AIDS is reached, the girls are prepared to talk openly about the taboo topic.
If you have not already read our About page, please go and read more about the weekly structure of the Palala Clubs and then provided below is an example of what a typical six month program of the PGC might look like; although, it can easily be spread out to a year or shortened to only 3 months or even a weekend.
Sample Club Outline
