16 Female learners given lessons in resilience
Participants of The Women and Girls: The Invisible Force of Resilience campaign. Supplied Participants of The Women and Girls: The Invisible Force of Resilience campaign. Supplied
Cape Town - The City’s Disaster Risk Management Centre’s (DRMC) resilience programme gave 16 girls from Ocean View Secondary School the chance to receive training on how to deal with disasters, should they occur.
The Women and Girls: The Invisible Force of Resilience campaign was established in 2012 by the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction, with Cape Town part of the initiative since its inception.
“This programme takes place annually during the June school holidays, with a different school taking part each year,” said Charlotte Powell, the head of public awareness and preparedness at the DRMC.
“The main aim of the programme is to build resilience in girls, because often when disasters occur, it is the women who will take up the challenge of rebuilding a community,” she said.
During the course of the programme, which took place from June 17-27, the girls took part in various activities, including training in firefighting, first aid and photography.
“We took the girls to Helderberg Nature Reserve where we showed them the different biodiversity species we have in Cape Town and educated them about how to grow their own food gardens,” said Powell.
“We also gave them lessons on the effects that climate change will have on the City and the disasters that will happen because of it.” The girls - who are in Grade11 - were also visited by officials of the Western Cape Department of Social Development who taught them how to deal with issues of social vulnerability.
Mayco member for safety and security JP Smith encouraged the girls not to allow their backgrounds to determine their futures. “I also did not come from a wealthy background, I worked five jobs to put myself through university; at one point I even worked as a DJ to make extra cash to pay for my studies,” he said.
“Using these opportunities of skills development will open bigger doors for you; your ability to reach the top depends on your belief in yourself,”
Erin Miller, one of the girls who took part, said that because she wants to be a paediatrician, the first aid course was really beneficial to her.
“My confidence has also really grown and I have built strong relationships with the other girls who took part,” she said.
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