Got in touch with Brooke to spend the day with Girl Determined NGO giving young teen girls confidence building skills to become active members of the changing face of Myanmar.
But first I politely asked to have my rent lowered and the room cleaned. Brooke helped as she speaks Burmese and Thai. Their solution was to give me another room. No mold or peeling paint still in need of a good scrubbing - one of the fellows donned a face mask to take on that task and I'll be gone all day so hopefully it won't asphyxiate me.
The were two groups of girls working on different projects. One a campaign to get people to stop buying fruits dyed with food coloring. They were writing up their research and planned meetings with market and town officials to get their support and protection.
The other group worked all day on skits depicting child labor, the pain of prostitution and the stigma attached when often the girls see themselves as helping their families, street girls and begging, and being forced to leave school to work or do housework so someone else can work.
The girls report from being in the program for two years they are more comfortable answering questions at school, engaging in discussions with parents- fathers in particular- becoming kinder to younger siblings, acting in skits and talking to authority figures about issues important to them.
Its been a wonderful day!
-On the road with Kathryn
Location:Yangon
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