SheRises empowers young women

“I raise up my voice – not so I can shout, but so those without a voice can be heard… We cannot succeed when half of us are held back.” – Malala Yousafzai

Empowering women, children, the deaf, hard of hearing, and people with speech difficulties in local communities around the world is one of the mandates of Quota International, and Quota International of TT (QuotaTT) is taking it very seriously.

The local representative of Quota International hosted its first instalment of the SheRises Empowerment Initiative for Young Women and Girls from August 12-16, at the St Dominic’s Children’s Home in Belmont. Twenty six young women and girls, ages 12 to 18, were selected from St Jude’s Home for Girls, the Mary Care Centre for Adolescent Mothers, Holy Name Training Centre and the St Dominic’s Children’s Home to participate in the programme. Each received a certificate of participation at the end of the programme, and the top two high-performing participants were given an opportunity to take part in a six-month mentoring programme.

“We have been doing quite a bit of work in the deaf community and we saw a need. We looked at it from a life-skills perspective,” QuotaTT president Michelle Low Chew Tung told Newsday of the reason behind the programme.

“It is one of the things that we would want to do every year for young women and girls. We believe that with the right skills, a young woman will be self-reliant, independent and strong. With the right skills girls can take part in activities for women’s empowerment and also mentor other girls. QuotaTT is working to ensure that young women and girls realise their full potential.”

SheRises, Low Chew Tung said, emphasises the development of knowledge, skills, and attitudes in the critical aspects of life skills development.

"SheRises is about the empowerment of young women. As a nation, we cannot achieve sustainability without investing in this sacred work," Sister Arlene Greenidge, manager of the St Dominic's Children's Home said.

The workshops were facilitated by qualified and experienced volunteers, among them CEO and principal consultant of DRA Consulting, Dawn Richards, who presented on self-esteem and body image; Dr Safeeya Mohammed, human rights advocate and CEO, SISU Global Wellness, who shared information and advice on wellness and self-care, and violence against women and children (Human Rights) with the young participants; managing director of Business and People Development Associates Limited, Georgina Terry-Cowan, who presented on entrepreneurship and business; and managing director and co-founder of Inveni Business and Technology Ltd (INVENI), Low Chew Tung, who gave the young women lessons in encouraging dream and goal setting.

Additionally, participants heard the success stories of other women, including founder of a creative branding consultancy, The Fashion Arch, Ain Earle; owner of Sole Beauty for the Sole, Solange Richardson; national volleyball champion, Rheeza Grant; communications manager, Cable and Wireless (TT and Curacao) Yolande Agard-Simmons; and spoken word artiste Zakiya Gill.

"Last week we embarked on a monumental task of uplifting and empowering the girls of four orphanages. On the last day, hearing the testimonials of the lessons learnt from the programme activated the tear ducts and pulled on every heartstring. It may have only been 26 girls.... But it is 26 girls who are now more confident, understand their human rights, taught coping mechanisms, resilient strategies to process their past trauma and better face the world with a healthier perspective,” Mohammed told Newsday.

Low Chew Tung said the programme has a built-in evaluation component that includes end-of -programme evaluations and a six-month impact assessment and evaluation interview with the caregivers and participants from the home.

“The responses by the participants were very good. Generally every one of them said it was an excellent programme. ‘It was the best workshop I have ever been to at St Dominic’s.’ ‘This programme help me to prepare myself for the world and to set goals for my life.’ ‘I loved it and enjoyed it and kinda know where I am going, and it was fun’,” Low Chew Tung read some of the comments made by the young participants.

She said while all the sessions were successful, the workshop on entrepreneurship and business was one that really brought the young women and girls together. “It was where we really started to see the children gelling together. Georgina mixed up the participants and the results, it was amazing.”

All costs associated with the implementation of the programme, Low Chew Tung said, were borne by QuotaTT, as well as corporate sponsorship through the Massy Foundation, Unit Trust Corporation of TT Foundation, Atlantic LNG, Republic Bank Limited and Powergen.

“Normally we have fundraisers for the majority of our initiatives, such as last year’s Christmas market that funded our Signing Santa Christmas event. This year it will be called a Second-Hand Market to be held in November, at the Harvard Sports Club and will go toward funding the Educational Scholarship Awards and the Earplug Distribution Campaign.”

The scholarship awards offers three scholarships totalling 10,000 to deaf and hard of hearing students advancing from primary to secondary school and secondary to post-secondary education.

The earplug campaign forms part of the #ProtectYuhHearing campaign in support of World Hearing Day. For Carnival 2019 QuotaTT distributed over 2,000 pairs of earplugs free to children and steelband members involved in the festivities.

The Signing Santa event is hosted in collaboration with the TT Association for the Hearing Impaired (Dretchi), and will be held this year on December 5, at the Dretchi compound on Wrightson Road, Port of Spain. The children in the deaf community will receive, food, beverages, and witness the blessing of the crèche and the lighting of the Christmas tree. “Santa, of course, is deaf and will communicate with the children using sign language,” she explained.

QuotaTT also has a back to school stationery supplies project through which it will donate stationery supplies to the 26 children residing at the St Dominic’s Children’s Home, and the children at the Cascade School for the Deaf and the Audrey Jeffers School for the Deaf. But the organisation does not stop there.

“Last Sunday (August 18) we worked with the Sangre Grande Regional Corporation and Dretchi to host a community hearing-screening event and assisted some families with food supplies. We have a food fundraiser that starts on August 26 and runs till October 13. Tickets are to be redeemed at Svaada Gourmet Indian Kitchen, at One Woodbrook Place, St James. The funds will also go towards this year’s Signing Santa event,” Low Chew Tung said.

About Quota International

Quota International Inc is a non-profit organisation that was founded in 1919 by five businesswomen. It has over 5,000 members and a presence in 14 countries: Aruba, Australia, Canada, Curacao, Fiji, India, Malaysia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the Philippines, St Eustatius, Suriname, TT and the United States. Its head office is in Washington DC, US. Find us on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/quotatt/ ), Instagram and LinkedIn Visit on line https://www.quota.org/