Strength TogetHER 26 - Session 2

13th April,2022.

 With support of the WOW team, British council we expanded our Strength TogetHER sessions in Karmahawa School, Lumbini with a group of 35 girls which was divided into groups of 13 and 22 girls from grade 11 and 12 respectively. Strength TogetHER provided a safe space for girls to share personal stories and experience which brings change in attitudes and lives. They get to explore and express themselves which helps to unburden themselves and create meaning. 

On 13th April, we started our session on the topic “It doesn’t feel safe being a girl” which was moderated by Ms. Sadikshya Maharjan who is a free spirited person with her own insecurities and on a journey of self-acceptance. She completed her BA.LLB from National Law College. She aspires to be a part of the change, and help everyone. For the same she had worked as a Research Fellow for UNDP- Parliament Support Project and had also participated in Asia Pacific Youth Internet Governance Forum 2021. 

Our second session for the second group started with the question, “Does it feel safe being a girl?” To which our participants answered that girls are not safe from home to community level. There are many things a girl has to go through along with being disrespected, humiliated and dragged down. 

Our participants shared that girls have a compulsion to think about their actions and reactions of their family, relatives and community to it. The discussion also opened up about how it is important to stand up against people teasing or abusing girls even on a small level that has been normalized by society. This will break the chain and help keep other girls safe in the future. It will also discourage the abusers to continue corresponding actions.

We also discussed what we can do on a personal/ individual level to help each other and came up with basic yet important solutions like supporting girls, listening to their stories, and not making fun of others. Our moderator also emphasized that it is important to respect and not tease boys when they are alone.

We ended the session by talking about small things we can do to be safe while trying to keep others safe: providing emotional support to fellow women, not laughing or taking other’s abuse stories lightly, and taking steps to support others' mental health.