BACK TO PROJECT
WORKSHOP AT KENSWED ACADEMY
This afternoon Monica and I went to the Kenswed Academy to hold our workshops. Our workshops support UN goal #3, to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages. Our workshops taught about mental and physical health. We held the workshops for grades 10 and 11, with approx. 200 students in total. I had one grade for an hour, while Monica had the other grade for that time, then we switched. I was pleasantly surprised by the positive response I got from the students.
I spoke about self-esteem, self-love, and self- awareness. I spoke about ways to increase these three important topics by doing what you love, surrounding yourself with people who make you feel good instead of bringing you down, writing down positive and negative thoughts, and by accepting yourself and loving yourself completely for who you are. They were quite engaged, and really listened when I spoke. At the end of the workshop I even had two students ask questions about what do when they feel angry, or feel really low about life. I was proud of them for having the courage to ask me, and speak to me privately about finding a solution to feel better or cope with negative feelings.
So many of the students wrote notes while I spoke, and I hope they use these notes as reminders to help them learn how to feel good in the future! After the workshops were finished, Monica and I joined up again. She said that her workshop on puberty and sexuality with the students also went really well. The older students had a lot of serious questions that lead into a group discussion about female mutilation and all that females around the world suffer from. Monica got the feeling that the students wanted to educate themselves more about all the topics they discussed today.
Hopefully these workshops have opened up ideas, questions and started an important conversation within the students.
This morning we had a meeting with the doctor and government health minister to further discuss the running of the health center. It was a really great meeting!
Today has been a very long, but rewarding day, by getting the chance to meet the students and speak with them!
Morgan Young
Lööf Foundation representative
