African women and girls are often praised for our resilience, but how often is this true resilience, and how often is it a lack of choice that forces us to persevere when we really need to rest, reflect, and recuperate? Earlier we read how “resilience is the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties”. And our […]
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What is resilience? Task: Tick below the phrases you believe define resilience Never tries to do anything because it is too hard Is happy to stand up in front of others and give a presentation When they fall over, they get back up again Gives up if they find something difficult Responds to challenges and […]
Procrastination burdens the young women we work with, and it’s an important topic to discuss and help your mentee find tools to address. Have you ever heard the saying: “If you eat a live frog every morning, nothing worse can happen to both of you for the rest of the day”? Well, the “eat the […]
Older generations, or those from more traditional backgrounds, may think that stress is a luxury for African women and girls. They have always worked hard and their mothers and grandmothers worked hard. Hard work is a fact of life. The fact that many of the young women and girls we work with face adversity doesn’t […]
Resilience is a positive trait that can help you to carry on when you find things difficult. However, extreme resilience can sometimes persuade a person to carry on when this will have a damaging impact on them. For example, a runner competing in a race might develop an injury. Extreme resilience would persuade them to […]
What does wellbeing mean? What is emotional wellbeing? Wellbeing refers to the condition of being content and happy in life. It refers to the quality of one’s life or lifestyle. There are many aspects of wellbeing: physical, mental, spiritual and emotional. Emotional wellbeing is how we deal with both the positive emotions, such as happiness, […]
In many cultures, reflecting on what we have to be grateful for can help us see our blessings, even in the face of adversity. However, this isn’t universally true, so reflect before using this on whether this is an appropriate youth work tool in your culture. If your culture is one where gifts can be […]
Healthy eating is important for growing African teenagers and their brains! Eating a balanced diet also contributes to managing moods and emotions and getting a good night’s sleep. Whilst healthy eating may seem out of reach for some of the young women we work with, you don’t have a choice about what they eat at […]
How we meet people is very cultural, and we know that how we interact affects our whole lives. The friends we make, the connections we gain, and the knowledge we access all affect our opportunities. Many young women we work with have low confidence, and may also come from sectors of society where they are […]
Communication is sharing or exchanging information or ideas with someone. Good communication means understanding your audience, what they need to know, and how they need to be given the information. To communicate well one also needs to listen to others. We also need to think about how to express ourselves in ways that others will […]