Fawena empowers the marginalised girl child

In celebration of the girl child, representatives of the Forum for African Women Educationalists in Namibia (Fawena) visited five different schools: Havana Secondary School, Monte Christo Project School, Havana Primary School, Dr Abraham Iyambo Primary School and Hage Geingob High School, to share a word of encouragement and hand out school supplies and toiletries to 25 selected vulnerable or marginalised girls.

This year's theme of International Day of the Girl Child is "Our time is now – our rights, our future."

The visit was centred around motivating young girls and making them aware of their surroundings.

The young girls were advised not to stray from their goals in life and to steer clear of teenage pregnancies or drug and alcohol abuse.

They were urged to dream big and not to succumb to their current situation. Delphi Jimmy, a Fawena executive committee member said "just because you live in a shack today, it does not mean you will stay there forever."

Education is key

Hanna Rooinasie, Fawena's programme assistant, also advised the girls to live a fulfilling and well-planned life. She emphasised the importance of education.

There are also plans for the organisation to visit high schools in the north and other parts of the country. Fawena aims to not only support the Namibian girl child but also to equally give attention to the boy child and educate them on how to show up in the world.

Established in 1999, Fawena is a non-profit organisation in partnership with the ministry of education that focuses on empowering women and young girls by highlighting that education is a very important part of their lives and that they have a right to be educated. Rooinasie said: "In the past, girls were not allowed to go to school, but now due to changing times, we are all included in education".

She added that girls should take advantage of every opportunity they have, think independently, and take up leadership positions.