Kujaliwa empowers young girls

In a bid to empower and improve self-esteem among girls to ensure they are more aware about who they are, embracing their unique identities in order for them not to have an identity crisis where they wonder if they can conform to certain cultures, habits and behaviors.

A Life Coach, Kate Kujaliwa, has embarked on a girls’ empowerment initiative called ‘Girl Talk’ which happens once every year under different themes.

“Looking at how fast the world is and the level of information that is bombarded to young girls, I felt the girl talk seminar is a very good platform to offer spaces for young girls, where they can express themselves and talk to older women as adults who have walked the road before to somehow tell them that it is okay to face these challenges and equip them with the skills on how to handle these issues,” she explained.

The girl talk seminar which happened this year at African Bible College in Lilongwe was held under the theme “Cultural Shock”.

“Girls find themselves in new environments such as boarding schools, work places and the shock that they get there, can sometimes throw them off balance because they are trying to conform to a particular culture. In this year’s seminar, we wanted to empower girls on how to handle themselves when they come in a new setting in terms of self-care, consent in relationships, boundaries.” Kujaliwa said.

One of the mentors of this year’s girl talk seminar and Managing Director of Optimus Solutions, Phyllis Manguluti urged parents to always send their young girls to such events when they are organized because they tend to learn a lot.

“In today’s seminar I taught about goal setting, keeping the momentum going as well as understanding passion because usually these are the areas which people have got a gap. Young girls should know and understand what they are passionate about and we should be able to grow and nurture that,” she said.

Another mentor, Wonanji Sande appealed to young girls to understand their environment when doing things, never to lose themselves in trying to please people as well as to embrace and nurture opinions that would build them and not destroy them.

One of the participants, Patience Mapemba, said that as one who has been struggling to set personal boundaries, girl talk gave her a place where she can start from. She encouraged young girls to attend such seminars because they provide a platform that allows young girls to express themselves without fear of judgement and they get to learn from others and their personal experiences.