Girls’ Empowerment Program Empowers Adults, as Well!

by Robin Loving

Our Girls’ Empowerment Program is empowering more than fifth and sixth-grade girls in the State of Guanajuato, Mexico: It’s empowering government officials, volunteers, and other Rotary Clubs in three countries!

Imagine how empowered State of Guanajuato officials felt when they approved our entering schools during the school day to teach girls about the physical changes they would face as they become women! If you have ever worked in government, you know how empowering change-making can be when it’s not just process but progress!

Volunteer sewing groups in Canada, Mexico and the United States have been empowered to learn to work with special fabrics that are used to create reusable menstrual hygiene kits for each of the 4,000 girls who now are equipped to stay in school that week that they used to stay home due to a lack of appropriate supplies.

Volunteer drivers in Mexico have been empowered to venture into unfamiliar territory in the countryside near us in order to ferry our teachers to the girls’ schools each day for the two-hour courses over five-days.

And, of course, the Mexican girls receiving the information and the kits are empowered with information that boosts their self-confidence, their self-esteem, and their womanly wisdom so that they may manage not only their personal processes but also whether they stay in school and whether they become sexually active, thereby empowering them to compete with their male counterparts and go further in their academic studies.

Recently, we saluted our multinational partners, our teachers, and our volunteers at a Rotary meeting. We have had more than 40 volunteer drivers in our first two and a half years of the program, one third of whom have been Rotarians, two thirds of whom have been others. We have six teachers.

Special recognition went to the 49er Rotary Club of Nevada City, CA; the Rotary Club of Nelson, British Columbia; the Rotary Club of Nakusp, British Columbia, the Interact Club of Nelson, British Columbia, Days for Girls sewing groups in Chanhassen, MN and Richmond, VA; Niñas Sabias curriculum training provided by Hana Figueroa; the Girls’ Empowerment Program Team Leader Teri Kavanagh; Project Manager José de Anda; Volunteer Driver Coordinator Kerry Fautsch; Program Champions Lee Carter, Carla Cadena and Andrea Spessard; Midday Rotarian Phillip Jares who has led much of the sewing, and the initial Rotary Midday team that realized the need, developed the concept, and helped create the props used in classes, Tom Schneider and Nory Oxenberg.

Enjoy these photos of the girls and so many other newly empowered people!

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​Girls’ Empowerment Program Project Manager José de Anda, Teacher Arlene Nájera Ávila and Rotary Club of Nelson, British Columbia member Terry Lund, whose Rotary Club donated 50 reusable kits 

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Rotarian Terry Lund from the Rotary Club of Nelson, British Columbia, attending a Girls’ Empowerment Program graduation where he helped distribute kits that were donated by the Rotary Club of Nakusp, British Columbia

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​Girls with the props used to teach them about their transition into womanhood and the kits they will be using in the process.

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