GrRrrL PoWer!! - ideas, suggestions, and encouragement much appreciated.

*First and foremost let me preface this entry by saying that the views expressed are mine and do not in any way represent the views of the US government, the Peace Corps, or the Jamaican governement.

As some of you wonderful community members already know, for my volunteer service here in Jamaica I am working with teenage girls who are "at risk" and "delinquent". Many of the community members here in Jamaica see these girls as "bad" and at fault for what happens to them.

What many of these community members don't realize is that these girls are not inherently bad, that they act out for a reason. Most of these girls have been sexually abused and all of them have been either sexually, emotionally, or physically abused. We also have a high rate of developmental delayed girls.

My job at the facility is to promote the girls' self esteem and encourage them to live a healthy lifestyle. I also work with the staff on programming that they can implement and doing sensitivity and effective positive reinforcement training.

I am loving what I am doing, but I am running into some challenges in finding resources for some of the programs I am wanting to implement at the facility. Here is a list of some of the ideas I have:

• Relaxation and anger management


• Effective stretching for teenage girls*


• Effective exercises for girls who are developmental delayed*


• Art therapy for victims/surviors of domestic/sexual/emotional abuse*


• Self esteem building activities


• Goal setting

These are the ideas I have come up with so far. Let me know if you have any other suggestions. The ones with the astrik (*) denote the ones I am having the most challenges with. Please please please if you know of any resources for these do share!

Much peace,

Sharese