Girl Up Extension
I’m Jiya Bothra, one of the girl-up extension leaders along with Sjaan Toomey-Jakobs.
GirlUp is an international organisation founded by the United Nations, who aim to increase gender equality globally. GirlUp Extension has been present in the PNGHS community for several years. This year we established a focus on empowering each other within our school and girls in the wider community, by using social action to create social change. I am very proud to say that Girl Up is one of the biggest (non-online) extensions at our school, with over thirty members from a range of year levels, we present and discuss inspirational women and people who have created a real meaningful change in our world at our weekly meetings.
Each week, we plan fundraisers/events, have healthy discussions about current political ideas, empower and motivate each other, discuss icons and role models, and get to know other like-minded students at our school. Despite various absences due to isolation and sickness, Girl-Up was able to bounce back and organise several successful events.
As the leader of this extension, I am very proud of the progress we have made this year.
We aimed to complete one social action each term. In term one, we planned and completed our first fundraiser bake sale, in which we raised over $350 for Women in Ukraine. This was a huge success; each student contributed in their own way in correspondence with their personal strengths. The donations raised helped women and girls to have income security, live in a safe and violent-free home, safety from natural disasters and funds for humanitarian action volunteers. Thank you so much for everyone's generous donations at our bake sale, which helped advance gender equality and women's empowerment.
Also, in term one, students were given a group assignment to plan a potential social action in their community. They were given the option to fulfil the social action. Students learnt teamwork skills, the importance of peaceful social change, and communication and organisation skills. You may have seen some empowering Girl-Up social media accounts run by our members. Some students produced a piece of artwork, which can be found hanging in the library.
Keep an eye out in the notices next year to join this passionate and driven group of students.
Semper Sersum,
Jiya Bothra