Greight Foundation Mentorship

Courage they say is the absence of fear, which is one of the words the girls at Mitumba use to describe Self-confidence. Many Girls even much older women and senior people due aspects such as low self-esteem face this challenge on a daily basis. The challenge of daily having to face crowds; having so many eyes glued on your whilst every ear is set to your every word ,this was the foundation of our discussions on the 22nd Of June,2011 at Mitumba Community Primary School at 3.00 pm.

Our session just as the preceding one was delayed due the waits occasioned by “African timing.”The day was extremely cold as the month of July was slowly beckoning. I took this time to marvel at the beauty endowed in this vast environment, the potential that the students retain was another encouraging factor.

Soon the time came, Thirty (30) minutes later the girls had all assembled in one of the classes which has now become a standard meeting point. As a recap we all had to reintroduce each other but this time the platform and approach would be different. The introduction would be in front of the class while facing the rest of the class. The reception was baffling most of the girls were resistant to the idea. To break the ice we had to do the Knowing me Knowing you session but as a familiarization concept for the topic – Self confidence.

“Can someone describe the meaning of the word Self – Confidence?”

“Teacher - It is being bold, courageous, strong, sure, being forward or being strong”

These were just but afew of the responses derived from my question. The next was to confirm from them what the benefit of being self – confident is, to which they noted that Key was that you gain respect from others.

The session then proceeded to the session where all had to;

i. Introduce themselves by name;

ii. Tell us about their family;

iii. Inform us why they like being in the school and the session in particular.

All was well with first few; many held the most important aspect of eye-contact and voice confidence. However there were those exceptionally shy cases where we all had to assure them that we all loved them, had their backs and that this was only for their benefit. Just to impress the values we redid the session like thrice intermingling the weak with the self-confident. Finally they grasped the concept and it was time for all to bid each other and call it a day.

The session ended with a word of prayer from the head girl, we agreed that the next session would be held on the 13th July, 2011 where we would be focusing on the next topic – Personal Development.

I left with them requesting if we could pick up an earlier date, where I said we would consider that. This however left me thinking how different a lot of us today would be if the same had been inculcated in our school curriculum…..it remains just that a thought especially after having to learning everything the hard way!