Wednesday 3 December 2014

I love my forehead..


(Selfie with a Cow, Thiruvalangadu village, India)
By now we should all know that no one is perfect. As much as we hear this phrase all the time, most of us do not believe this. You can start with admitting your imperfections and even applauding them. I usually know where my strengths and weakness lie, where I can improve and when to make space for others to take lead. Endeavouring to be good at everything is incompetent, ‘aint nobody got time for that’. There is nothing wrong with saying ‘no’ sometimes, or else you will end up over committing and making fake promises to people. I have started committing to things I actually enjoy instead of piling every little thing on my calendar for the sake of other people. Working with the health team in the village has given me the opportunity to work with young girls and lead Women's Confidence Class lessons.

Leading a Women's Confidence Class in our Youth Resource Centre in Thiruvalangadu village was a rewarding experience. I am passionate about women's rights issues and promoting gender equality, and I planned my lesson about body image with full enthusiasm. Body image can include a person’s thoughts and feelings about their weight, shape, skin colour, size, height and their appearance more broadly. Television and magazines portray an ideal body image that causes people from around the world to question their looks and lose confidence in themselves. According to All Party Parliamentary group on Body Image, 42% of girls and young women feel like that the most negative part about being a female is the pressure to look attractive. Two people could look identical but have a very different body image as a result of peer groups; media, family and the society and culture in which we live in. Personally, I think we should build a positive and healthy body image for the future generation. My lesson for the girls was successful; I included self esteem activities to boost confidence levels. Overall, all the girls enjoyed the lesson and fully participated in all activities.


(Women's Confidence Class, India. 18.11.2014)
(Rakish's sister, Thiruvalangadu village.India)


(World Toilet Day, Thiruvalangadu School. 19.11.2014)
 Social media is playing a big role. Twitter is a great example; young girls' pictures are always analysed and fully criticised on their timelines. Some girls are now more concerned about little things like the shape of their eyebrows and the size of their forehead. (By the way, I love my forehead, sometimes I pull my Hijab back to show my forehead!) Social media has a huge effect on young people’s confidence and this can not be ignored in our society. 

 "To lose confidence in one's body is to lose one's confidence in oneself " Simone de Beauvoir

World Toilet Day. Thiruvalangadu Village, India.

The health team have successfully celebrated ‘World Toilet Day’ in Thiruvalangadu village, India. World Toilet Day is a United Nations (UN) observance, on November 19th, that highlights a serious problem – the ‘silent’ sanitation crisis is a ticking time bomb which affects billions of people around the world. This international day of action aims to break the taboo around toilets and draw attention to the global sanitation challenge. The issues surrounding sanitation is bigger than I imagined; according to the UN, 1 in 3 women worldwide risk shame, disease, harassment and even attack because they do not have safe toilets. Furthermore, the absence of adequate toilets in schools can lead to a higher rate of girls dropping out of education, as well as risks the health and safety of female students. 
(World Toilet Day, Thiruvalangadu School. 19.11.2014)

(World Toilet Day, Thiruvalangadu School. 19.11.2014)
(World Toilet Day, Thiruvalangadu School. 19.11.2014)
(World Toilet Day, Thiruvalangadu School. 19.11.2014)
Developing countries should prioritise improving sanitation; 2.5 billion people practise open defecation or lack of adequate sanitation facilities. Unfortunately, poor sanitation leads to 700,000 child deaths from diarrhoea each year. Restless development is working extremely hard to prevent such problems, and the health team have done a great job in raising awareness about the importance of World Toilet Day....

Follow me on Twitter 

No comments:

Post a Comment