By Mercy Mutandwa | Operations Manager
Our final term at the Girl Child Mentorship Programme was emotional! It doesn’t get any easier to say goodbye to 30 lovely girls that we have mentored for the year and we will miss this wonderful group dearly.
Sessions during the final term
Our final term continued in much the same way as the other two and we are grateful that we could provide this consistency to the mentees and something to look forward to every Saturday during the term. Our topics this term focused on helping the mentees start practicing some of the skills and lessons they learnt earlier in the year. We were proud as we watched them take turns to engage in public speaking, a lot of them would have neither had the right skills nor the willingness to do this when the programme first started. At the end of the term, each of the three groups of mentees picked litter at their schools. We love this final session where the mentees first learn about the importance of looking after the environment and then go out and give back to their schools.
End of year lunch
As always, we ended the term and the year with a wonderful lunch. We treated the mentees to hot dogs and salad. It was a welcome change from the usual cooked meal although we did get warned by some of our outgoing mentees not to do it too often! Then there was cake and custard afterwards, all accompanied by good conversation as the mentees were now truly comfortable with each other.
We were so pleased to have been able to present the mentees with certificates in celebration of all they had achieved through the year. It was a first for the Girl Child Mentorship Programme and we hope to do this annually as it was so reaffirming for the girls!
Each mentor and mentee was presented with a treat-filled mug as a reminder of their time at the mentorship programme. This was thanks to one of our trustees who fund-raised amongst friends to make this special gift happen. The mentors and mentees exchanged some touching words of thanks and encouragement as they presented the mugs to each other. There were lots of tears and hugs in the room. A very emotional goodbye indeed!
We ended the wonderful day with art therapy – t-shirt painting. Once they got into it, the girls really loved this and were so happy to be able to take their art work home. We hope they will wear their t-shirts often and that they will be reminded of the great times we shared over the year!
Thank you!
Thank you all! Donors, supporters, one-off fundraisers, volunteers and friends of the Girl Child Mentorship Programme. Another successful year would not have been achievable without your support!
A final reflection
Each end of term, we like to get feedback from our mentees. It helps us to know where we are getting things right and where we can grow. To end, here is some of the feedback from the end of this term:
‘I learnt to be a leader and to play my part in my family.’ – Tanaka, 14 years old
‘My favourite session was the ‘Giving Back’ session. I made my school clean!’ – Rukudzo, 15 years old
‘I learnt to create memories, spread love and become creative.’ – Yolanda, 14 years old
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