Because I Am a Girl (Scout)

In November of this year I applied for an amazing opportunity through Girl Scouts. Four girls from my council would be taken to New York to represent the Girl Scouts of the United States at the 56th annual Commission on the Status of Women held by the United Nations. To my surprise, I was accepted and training sessions via webinar began in January. Along with my council, two other Girl Scout councils brought groups of four girls. Other organizations with attending youth delegates inckude the Girls Learn International Organization, The Grail, the World Associatn of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts and Plan International.
Although we’ve only been here since late Friday night, this has already been one of the most inspiring experiences I’ve ever been a part of. Instead of attending sessions with other youth delegates at the CSW, I was selected to work with the 9 girls that Plan International brought to New York along with another Girl Scout from another region and two girls from Girls Learn. The girls come from 5 different countries: Keang and Sale from Cambodia, Fabiola from Cameroon, Loyce and Elizabeth from Malawi, Alishba and Maryam from Pakistan, and Teresa and Fatmata from Sierra Leone. As girl journalists, we will be documenting their thoughts and personal experiences throughout on various mediums of social media.
When I’m with the girls we have extremely natural conversations. We talk about food, clothes, boys, culture. We share, we take pictures together and today, Fatmata and Teresa corn-rowed my entire head. However, once we begitalking about their purpose and expectations for the CSW they share some insight on all the issues in their mind. Once a conversation on the topic of rural women and girls ensues, one truly sees just how personal this year’s theme really is. Since the girls have so much insight and can talk about the topic for hours, I truly enjoy the time I get to spend with them and once I return to my own community, I know that my life will be forever changed.