Monday, July 17, 2017

From dreams to plans to actions

During the last few weeks we have been working with education advice in the girls’ group. There is no education advice in public schools’ curriculum so the students have little knowledge on the possibilities they have and the choices they need to make in order to proceed towards the profession they desire. 


We introduced the topic by drawing each one’s future dreams and sharing them together. The variety of different dream professions was very narrow due to little knowledge on career possibilities. The most common dreams were to become a teacher, nurse, doctor or tailor but there were a few girls mentioning other professions such as police, pilot, tourist guide or artist. Many of the girls had been inspired by someone they admire in their living environment, such as a mother or a teacher. Because of this, we decided to have an overview on the most common professions.


Next, we discussed the possible obstacles the girls might have on their way towards their dreams. These were mostly school-related. Many girls lack time or material for studying. Some have dropped out of school. Some don’t know which subjects to choose to reach their desired profession. There are also some challenges with the school environment. The distances are often long and many have to walk even five kilometers one way each schoolday. The schooldays are long and the schools may not have water, let alone meals. The class sizes can be even above hundred students and it’s difficult to get a teacher’s attention. 

 

In order to help the girls to also realize the value of their own actions and efforts, we then discussed their strengths and possible next steps towards their dream. This is where dreams develop into plans. Again, we saw their insecurities in speaking out and expressing their opinions. In this point, the girls mentioned the importance of studying hard, focusing on specific subjects, cooperation with fellow students and praying. These observations were on a rather general level, and thus we encouraged the girls to further think through their own personal strengths.


This topic needs more attention in the future, but we hope that after these sessions the girls have at least a bit better picture of the area of education and maybe some more ideas of the possible career options. At the moment we are conducting home visits with the girls who have dropped out of school to support them to create and reach their individual future plan.

Ida Nyroos & Minna Varho

The writers are Master’s degree social work students from University of Turku in Finland and are currently doing their internship with Ni Hekima Pekee.