The first girls club meeting was amusing, mostly me amused at myself trying to communicate with a roomful of girls who only understand Spanish. I am using a curriculum from Costa Rica, fortunately, in Spanish, called Como planear mi vida. It is very enriching and focuses on self-esteem and health topics for teenagers. During the second class, I encouraged each girl to draw a personal flag, an activity which required thinking about what represents them. At first, they didn't understand the concept of thinking of themselves in a creative way, or even of telling other people about themselves. I showed them an example, and half of the group copied it exactly. However, some of the girls began to get the idea as I prompted them with questions, like, What do you like to do? What is the best thing about your family? your community? your culture? What are you good at? What do you like about yourself? What are your goals? Some of the girls chose to write phrases instead of drawing to fill in their flags, and I was impressed at the insights they shared. Many of them wrote they were proud to be educated, perhaps a characteristic their mothers have not been fortunate enough to acquire.
