Another successful 'Girl's Day' was held on Thursday 1^st of September with three amazing speakers along with some health and fitness and arts and craft activities. These days were developed in response to data from our annual health and wellbeing survey that indicated girls needed very different experiences to our boys.

The first guest was Ella Dixon, the CEO of the Migrant Resource Centre. Ella talked about the Australia’s migration program, multiculturalism and human rights. An important message was if you treat someone as equal, culture is no barrier. The next speaker was Tsegayinesh Midson (Tsegay). Tsegay is a university student studying social work. She was adopted from Ethiopia at the age of nine and shared her journey of struggling with self-worth. She also shared the important following messages:

-Believe in yourself and love your self

-The importance of Gratitude

-Growth mind set- positive attitude

-Perseverance/ resilience

-Helping others and giving

-Taking the opportunities that are there

The third speaker was Thelma Demesa Meraz who works at our local Hub, as a community officer for Arts, Culture and Experiences for the George Town Council. She was born in Mexico, has travelled to 29 countries so far and is passionate and curious about arts, cultural diversity and science. Thelma shared her passion for her home country of Mexico and the things she misses about her home. Thelma has found that you are sometimes judged by your accent and that makes things hard and it’s not ok. Thelma talked to the girls about human rights, UNESCO, embracing diversity and generally being happy.

After lots of sitting and listening the girls ‘hit the gym’ for boot camp run by Kylie Moore from Sherriff Health and Fitness. We know that physical activity helps us feel better and this session was certainly physical! Even the teachers discovered new muscles which were  a little sore afterwards. Kylie emphasised the importance of exercise and good eating.

Our final session involved painting happy rocks and this was run by Ann Fitzgerald from the Orange Gecko Art Network. Craft has also been identified as a relaxing activity. There is a trend for painted rocks to be hidden in places where small children may find them, hence making someone’s day more special. Ann emphasised that making someone else happy, can also make you feel better too.

It was an awesome day and we really appreciate the support of our guests.

Following each Girls’ Day a survey is completed by all those involved. Out of 10, the girls rated the day at an average of 8.6.

Below are some quotes from the surveys:

“I liked listening to Tsegay’s speech as it was quite motivating and will help me in life”

“Art made me feel calm and relaxed and I will definitely be doing it again when I feel anxious and tense.”

“I think it helped me with anxiety when the girls were talking because I found out our life isn’t as hard as for other girls.”

“Speeches were inspiring and helped us to be grateful for what we have”.

“Learning how to be grateful for what I have in life and getting to push myself in active activities and painting peacefully.”

“I enjoyed everything we did today.”

“Bootcamp made me feel like a new person and feel really good about myself.”

“Tsegay mentioned this was her first time speaking and she did an amazing job.”

“Exercise helped me a lot because you can just think.”

“I like Tsegay because she was confident and kind and now gets to complete her dream of building her mum’s house.

“I like Tsegay’s speech because of all the stuff she has been through.”

“I enjoyed all of it but painting was my favourite because it was fun and my rock was cute.”