If you have been keeping up with my posts you would know that I am a part of the community service group Girls For Girls. If not, allow me to enlighten you on what our service does. G4G focuses on helping female victims of sexual assault and harassment. We collaborate with Emerge Global Lanka, where the girls are placed in a shelter for about 3 months and are provided with the preparation needed to return back to society. Now you may wonder: what happens after those 3 months? The girls return back to the real world, where they are treated equally and usually the foundation offers them places in jobs to help them support themselves. But before that, there is always a graduation to celebrate the personal growth of these girls within their three months at the shelter.
I was lucky enough to be able to attend the graduation of the August-November batch of 2019. The graduation took place on November 6th, in Colombo. We left school at around 11:45am and arrived at the graduation at around 12:15. The graduation consisted of a variety of performances. It began with an inspirational speech from the founder of Emerge Global Lanka, then a brief speech discussing how the girls have grown and become family to the members of the shelter. Later, the girls performed a dance, sang a few songs they had prepared, and presented a self-defense skit they had been working on. And finally, the girls received their certificates for completing the 3-month experience at the shelter.
The graduation was exciting for me as we had been working with the girls since they had arrived at the shelter, and it was truly inspirational to see them grow from being shy and timid to outgoing and confident. We grew a friendship a lot stronger than I had believed, and seeing the smiles on their faces as they waved goodbye to this journey of their lives gave me a sense of satisfaction and fulfillingness. It was an indescribable feeling; almost bittersweet. I was grateful to the girls for allowing me to be a part of their experience and showing me the importance of feminism.
One activity I will never forget is when we did wall climbing together. At first, I thought it would be a fun and enjoyable activity for the girls, but it taught me something I could only see from the perspective I experienced first-hand. Everything we do is to strengthen the girls: emotionally and physically. But as I watched the girls support each other as they climbed up to the top of the wall, I understood the emotional trust they had in me. It was far more than volunteer-to-victim; it was friendship.
The girls are strong; they are influencers. As much as we teach them about the world we live in, I only learn more from them. Our simple conversations with team building activities are all so inspiring and empower me to break the boundaries of what is considered to be standard in society, which is the cause of the silence on this issue.
Collaboratively working with them has allowed me to understand that the only way to eradicate and increase the prevention of sexual abuse, assault, and harassment is to address the issue and spread awareness within the realms of my community and local culture in depth.
But for now, all I can say to this group of strong, independent women as they return back to society is: I wish you nothing but the best.
Cover photo credits: Ms. Tassy Dahlan