Girls Think Outside The Square Girls Finally Allowed To Be Counted

Girls are finally having a say, in a community where the male has ruled supreme for centuries. Women even had to ask permission of their husband to move away to speak to someone else (this is not an exaggeration). Just recently at a public gathering a white woman went to move away from her husband, the chief she was to accompany quickly asked her to get permission from her husband before they moved off. And this is the 21^st century.

Across the tiny and remote islands of the Vanuatu archipelago a quiet revolution is taking place. Girls are listening, girls are thinking, girls are moving on.

At the end of primary schooling when places in the formal education sector are so hard to get (1 in 4 students will continue schooling), girls are stepping up. Girls are turning to the trades.

These isolated islands have for centuries provided a lifestyle of custom-living focussed on the village community, its gardens, its traditions and customs. For centuries girls have believed and been trained for their place in the local community, as care givers.

Meanwhile mothers have encouraged daughters to learn to read and write at the village school, although too often there are few pens, paper and books to use. Mothers have struggled to find a way in a cashless society to give their daughters a chance at getting those precious places in ongoing education.

Now there is a way: a passport to the future. Various aid agencies are providing limited equity scholarships and girls are moving into the trades – mechanics, carpenters, electricians, hospitality, tourism, secretaries. Small grassroots organisations are training girls in the craft of brick-making for the building industry.

And the YouMe Support Foundation is setting up scholarships for those from the remote, northern islands to be part of this revolution in higher education. Equity scholarships, involving training in the chosen fields, provide a strong chance that employment is the end result. ‘By and large, all hospitality and tourism students get jobs even before they graduate’, said Tacey McMartin from AusAID’s Vanuatu section.

In a world first the YouMe Support Foundation, in conjunction with winaresort.com, is raising funds through giving away a South Pacific holiday home plus six holiday units. The charity’s funds give non-repayable grants to the students from the northern, isolated islands to provide the opportunity for a high school or tertiary education. Girls will be encouraged to continue to step up.

You can be part of this revolution. Your donation will make a difference in these children’s lives. They will make a difference in the life of their village.