What the girls have said …….

We have two main types of mentorship: for the girls who are in school and the alumni.
I started with the former and graduated to the latter as I felt could add more value with three daughters having gone through University and I felt my life experiences were perhaps too far removed from those of the young girls for them to connect.
Having said that, my most memorable experience was talking to a very bright girl who had always been top of her class so academics was not an issue but when we got onto whether she had any problems at home she told me she was scared that the witch doctor would take away her brains as her parents believed heavily and used this as a means to threaten her. We spent a long time talking through how she felt and eventually through giving examples from her life and mine she was convinced that witch doctors did not and in fact could not ever have any power over her and we agreed to keep it as our secret. For something so far removed from any experience I had ever had that conversation and her renewed confidence gave me a massive feeling of achievement.
The sessions themselves are in two formats. The day starts with a group session revolving around a key subject of the day which may be ‘Ambition/Self belief/Commitment and these are followed by 1-1 sessions with the girls discussing their achievements and issues since the last session and their goals going forward. With the alumni we have group sessions sometimes based on the topic of the day and sometimes reviewing more immediate and relevant subjects such as interview skills, CV writing and job applications where we use role play to assist them.

Amongst the mentors very few of us come from the backgrounds of poverty and need experienced by our girls and probably myself least of all so to have to deal with youngsters who are orphans, sole providers, from subsistence farming, fathers who are drunk or violent this is a wholly different world however our message that through hard work dedication, focus and the application of universal principles of success they too can rise up and beyond their humble backgrounds.

Not only do the girls benefit from the programme but the mentors too benefit from deeper insights and experience of another side of life, which creates great humility seeing how the girls grow, develop and open up. Shy introspective girls given the attention they have never had, together with care, guidance and support will change dramatically and become able to overcome and face the world. It is also inspirational to see the girls who in turn give of themselves to mentor siblings and youngsters in the programme as they are both thankful and convinced of the benefits.

The greatest example of this are those wonderful champions of the programme who have won scholarships to the USA and come back totally unrecognisable, accomplished and confident.
Such journeys are not always easy and one of the most memorable learning experiences I had was with one of the alumni. It taught me you always have to see the world from the other person’s perspective and expect and deal with the unexpected. The girl was an extremely intelligent girl who I offered an internship in our business. She started but within the first week disappeared. I was amazed as it was a great chance to improve her CV with a well known and respected firm and she had been so keen.
I called her to find out what happened and was told that as the allowance we were giving her didn’t fully cover her travel expenses leaving her US$ 0.50 short on a daily basis her mother had told her she could not return. Her mother had no understanding of the value of the internship and the girl was too embarrassed to tell me there was a problem. I am thrilled that she is now excelling, as we all knew she would and is another wonderful example of the power and success of the programme.
Mentorship is not for everyone but it is the most rewarding, illuminating and educational thing I have ever done. I would wholeheartedly encourage you join our team of mentors or support the great work being done to give a bright future to these wonderful girls who without such support would never reach their potential and the country would be worse off as a result.
Measuring success.

• What am I doing?
• Will I help them?
• Will they understand me?
• Are my experiences relevant?
• What will we have in common?
• If they have a problem how will I handle it?

But all these concerns soon fade away as the well established structure of the sessions carry you through and confidence builds as the team share experiences over lunch and you find you are not alone with your concerns and you learn how others have mastered the process.