“I am excited to see important Samoan women because I want to be an important Samoan woman.”
This statement, from Choo, a Year 8 student from Salelavalu Primary School, echoes the sentiments of the forty other Year 7 and 8 girls who will attend this year’s G.L.O.W. Conference. GLOW stands for Girls Leading Our World.
It is a programme led by Peace Corps Volunteers around the world, designed to encourage young women from rural villages to develop their leadership skills for the future.
This year’s conference will be held November 14th and 15th in the N.U.S. Gym.
The conference will address three main themes: Careers and Education, Healthy Body, Healthy Mind, and Strong Hands Stop Violence.
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The girls will hear from a variety of successful Samoan females for each of these themes, through presentations, games, and other activities. They will also have the chance to create a presentation of what they learned through G.L.O.W. to take back to their villages and communities.
G.L.O.W 2014 will include girls years 7-8 from Primary Schools in both Upolu and Savai’i.
The conference will host forty girls from 20 rural Primary Schools, each where a Peace Corps Volunteer is currently posted. The girls are chosen for the conference based on academic achievement.
Asked what she was looking forward to about G.L.O.W, Blessing, a Year 7 student from Falelima Primary School, replied, “I am very excited to have been chosen to go to Apia and participate in the Peace Corps program. I am excited to meet girls from other schools and to hear from the many speakers at the conference.”
Another Year 7 student from Falelima, Taimane, expressed her excitement that the “speakers will teach the girls to be captains of the world.”
This is the first year that a small number of Samoan teachers were also asked to attend. Ana, the Year 3-4 teacher at Falelima Primary School, describes why G.L.O.W is important to her: “G.L.O.W. will give the opportunity for these girls to not only learn what their future can be like, but also to achieve that future.”
This year, Peace Corps Samoa is collaborating with U.N. Women, Pan Pacific Southeast Asia Women’s Association (PPSEAWA), Ministry of Women, Community, and Social Development (MWCSD) and various individual community members to make G.L.O.W a successful and inspirational conference for the young girls of Samoa.
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