St Dom’s Girl Empowerment

The LNGBI Girls Power Circle is an empowerment model created by Leave No Girl Behind International, a girls empowerment organisation founded by Haseena and Shameema Patel.

The organisation is based on the principle that when the world is a better place for girls and women, it becomes a better place for all of humanity. Girls Power Circles are a way of doing just that. Girls who want to make a difference in their own lives and in their communities gather in a safe, secure environment.

Supervised by an LNGBI Power Circle Mentor or Power Circle Leader, girls are committed to meeting weekly and learning to empower themselves and others through sharing, learning, teaching and various community projects.

The LNGBI Girls Power Circle of St Dominic’s Academy had the opportunity to video Skype with Felicia Johnson from Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.

Felicia Johnson is an author, child abuse survivor, and mental health advocate. She works in Atlanta with the Highlands Institute, and volunteers with Youth Villages Inner Harbour and Personality Disorder Awareness Network.

Felicia has been nominated for her novel, Her, to receive the Georgia Author of the Year Award in the First Novel category. Her is in production to become a movie. The girls learned about mental health disorders and were also inspired to pursue their own writing projects, starting with writing journals. Felicia also sent every girl the gift of a journal to begin writing.

Girls commented on the session.

“I found the Skype enlightening because there were many things I was uncertain of like my career and writing. Thank you because if it weren’t for the Skype I wouldn’t have started writing again. I have started writing a play and I’m on Act 2 already. It was my first time Skyping so I found that interesting. I really did enjoy it,” said 15-year-old, Mpumelelo Ngcobo.

“I thoroughly enjoyed the Skype session as I learned a lot from it. I now have more clarity about things which were once ‘blurred’. I liked the way we were able to ask questions freely, and there were no limitations. You woke up at like 6 – 7 am in the morning just to Skype with us; greatly appreciated,” said Asande Vilane, 12 years old.

“I was very touched by your life story and was inspired by your perseverance. The passion in which you portrayed when speaking about journaling somewhat re-ignited my love for literature. You might not have meant to, but you awakened a passion in me which I thought I had buried long ago,” said Samukelisiwe Mthembu, an inspired 17-year-old.

“I had fun and really learnt a lot because keeping something on a piece of paper is better than keeping it in your heart and what I mean by that is it’s better to write about the things that hurt you than to leave it to carry on hurting you,” said 13-year-old, Nokukhanya Makhanya.

“What I really liked about the Skype session was that you motivated me about how to not let anyone put me down or make me feel ashamed of myself,” Buhle Zondo, 12 years of age.

“We need to be the light for all those girls out there who need hope. We need to be their cheerleaders, their example, their protectors, their hope made real,” said mentor, Haseena Patel.