 Hey guys, welcome to another episode of Stepping Up, I'm your host, Daniel Dubois. We continue to feature young people who are passionate and continue to contribute on a national and international level. This week we chat with Girls of a Feather and for Linkup, we learn about St. Lucia Young leaders in Canada. Chelsea Foster is the founding director of Girls of a Feather, a mentorship and advocacy group for adolescent girls in St. Lucia. They have done so many amazing things like hold confidence building camps for girls and launched several chapters in several secondary schools around the island. COVID-19 did not stop them as they were able to launch their story teller series online, still moving forward with their mandate. A little later in the second segment, we chat with two members. Let's take a look. Hello Chelsea, how are you doing? Hi Ella, I'm fine, thanks for having me. You call me Ella, people don't know that name, you know? Okay, well let's cut that part out. No, that's okay, that's okay. So you know, we're really excited to hear the stuff that Girls of a Feather is up to. Tell us what it is that, first of all, let's talk about the genesis of Girls of a Feather. I know that you guys have been what, five years strong, congratulations, non-profit organization, so let's talk about how your organization started. Okay, so last year we celebrated five years, our five year anniversary. And it started out just as a youth organization where we recognized that there were a lack of opportunities to work exclusively with young girls in a volunteer space. And that's how the idea was birthed. I started off with a few friends, I got my family involved, I dragged them in. And we launched our first Beauty with Brains camp. There was a self-development camp that we held for about three to five days. We've done it for two years so far. And we've invited mentors to speak with the girls on different issues, whether it was health, entrepreneurship, we had a theme every year. And from then we expanded into schools because the girls are like, we want to continue this. So we mentioned earlier, you know, we had the Girls of a Feather HGC Club. We started off at Cassie's Comprehensive and we took a break last year so we can focus on developing an actual curriculum on youth and gender development where we can actually train the students who get involved with the organization and they can actually get, you know, a certificate of completion and they can do more gender girl-centered work in their schools. I know Comprehensive has some boys involved so I think they're graduating this year so they'll be getting a little something. I think that's fine though, it'll be nice to have the boys supporting the girls. It is and I remember I mentioned to someone, you know, maybe we should change the name of the organization. You're like, no, keep it as that and just let the boys know, you know, it's open to getting involved. You shouldn't have to, you know. So we're excited about that. So it's not only for all girls schools, we definitely hoping to expand, you know, last year we got the blessing from the Education Officer that she wants to see more organizations or more clubs like this in different schools and she could think of some schools who could use it. So we definitely, I know we'll go into it later, but school-based interventions and community-based interventions as well are what we're focusing on. Nice. Yeah. Coming to that, I wanted to ask what are some of the problems you guys seek to solve because you mentioned that you wanted to work exclusively with young girls and what are some of the problems that you guys seek to solve and what are some of the things that in your work you've realized are problems that keep popping up? I mean, one of the main areas for sure is gender-based violence that whenever we ask the girls in the program what is an issue you want to focus on, it is always that. You can see statistics and the data shows that there is a prevalence in St. Lucia. You know, within the past five years the reports have shown there will be between 75 to 90 cases reported annually and that's only reported, you know, because there are a lot of people who are not comfortable, you know, speaking about these things. So that's a lot of issues surrounding sexual health education, but I didn't mention it earlier, but the organization is really a mentorship and advocacy group and I think what the gap that we want to fill is the involvement of young girls in leadership and decision-making where they can do what all the activists are doing and speaking out on issues that they're most passionate about that are affecting young girls' socioeconomic issues. So I think bringing older persons into that space where we can groom them and teach them the skills where they can go into their communities and solve their own problems in their communities. So last year we held a leadership workshop where we invited young girls in the general public to design programs that focus on different things. So we had one group who focused on mental health, another group who wanted to focus on developing a database where they can collect issues and cases of sexual harassment in schools, which is something, you know, we don't really take seriously, we just kind of brush it off in schools as boys playing and, you know, just normalize these sorts of things in public spaces, in bathrooms, how young girls are treated. And I think you form a very important, you bring so much value in the little gaps that we have in our educational system, because I know that we're working on sex education and letting girls know and giving them the information that they need to be empowered to make right decisions. And I think sometimes, most times our education system, we don't get that, you know. I could remember my first encounter with, it was HFLE and everything was just so basic and so clean, but, you know, what are the little things happening in primary school? And I'm sure Girls Over Feather can let girls know things like bad touch and good touch and letting girls know that you have the right to speak up and speak out at every, you know. So I think Girls Over Feather, kudos to you guys and the stuff that you've been doing already. How, what have you done to fill some of these gaps already? I mean, for us for sure, it's awareness raising, because I mean, I don't want to oversell our organization as we provide counseling. So I think it's a lot of awareness raising and raising the consciousness of young people, creating that space where they even know who they can go to to get those referrals. So, you know, our first camp, you and you were part of that. We invited someone with the experience to support survivors of abuse. So just simple things where people don't know where to go to, which is a huge, you know, a lot of the times you say, the services are there, but people don't, but people aren't aware of it. They don't know who to go to. So if you create that space where, you know, Girls Over Feather knows this person, they can contact this person directly about us even knowing, creating that relationship with service providers is what we're really trying to do, because I mean, we can't, as much as I want to do everything, that's where we are with it. So just a lot of awareness raising. And I know that you guys, one thing from looking from the outside, looking in and, you know, seeing your growth and development, you know, I've always been your biggest fan. So because I find it's so closely aligned to what we want to do drama camp. But, you know, we have our focus in other places, but just being a young person, let's talk about that as a young person, studying and the hustle. And, you know, because we're talking about stepping up and, you know, that's taking ownership of solving problems. Give us a little bit of insight into your journey as the founder of a nonprofit organization who actually is going full-time very soon. And, you know, actually asking people to come on board and you're actually going to be hiring people. And for me, that is amazing to be able to say, you know, one day everybody's saying, you know, one day I want to be able to employ people and be responsible for person's livelihoods. And that's a dream that anybody and I personally, anybody wants to realize. So speak about that. Okay. It was definitely scary. But I like, I was saying that when you're called to do something and you're passionate about it, I remember one of the girls who started with me was always saying, Chelsea, I know this is your baby. This is your whatever. I don't want to mess it up because this is your vision. It takes a lot of sacrifice because I'm now still, well, doing my second degree and I'm still a university student. But I think the most important thing when you're getting into this work is just being consistent, maintaining the momentum and just knowing that this is your vision and this is what you want to do because I didn't always get the support. People didn't understand why I was giving so much of myself to something that is not giving me anything back. Well, how they say, I guess maybe I wasn't making money. I should be focusing on my career. Why am I giving so much of myself to this? So it was hard for people to kind of understand why I just committed so much of my time. When the passion drives you. The passion was there. So I was fortunate enough because I meant I was so consistent with our activities, with meeting with the girls, expanding the school clubs. We got the support to get a grant, a two-year grant where we can now go full-time transition into that and get more activities going. Congratulations Boss Lady. I'm very fortunate and I'm very lucky and I'm very happy and I know this will go a long way. And it's not something I want to just benefit our organization solely, this grant and the transitioning to a full-time service. I really, like I said earlier, want to see more youth organizations get into this space of gender advocacy and girls rights advocacy. So if we have a headquarters where we can get more youth to do what your organization is doing, drama can do production, do capacity building training sessions, which I really think we need. And just create an environment where young girls feel safe. A community, create a community and if goes over further can be the start for that. I'm very happy that we can do that and give back. Well congratulations Chelsea. I'm very inspired by your story and I'm just seeing the genesis from the beginning and now and it says that as you say don't give up, keep the passion and just keep working towards it and what you're doing is very important and we need more people like you. Two questions before I wrap up. How has COVID-19 changed your programming in any way? Has it put us spoke in any of your plans? Let's speak about that. Our immediate response before we even decided to change anything was to just check in with our girls. The girls were part of our club so we hosted a series of virtual sessions. Most of it focused on self-care. We did a series of virtual sessions where we checked in with them to make sure that they were coping with school well, that you know there's that platform where if you need to speak to anyone we had some psychologists there to speak with them. But like you mentioned earlier we're transitioning so we spent a lot of time doing our five-year strategic plan and taking into consideration everything that is happening now with children being back at school because you know we were supposed to start new clubs. Even our training session that you know we would have had the curriculum developers come down we have to postpone that to next year. So it was sort of like a reflection period and also giving us space to take time for ourselves which is important but really giving us that time to see how best we can respond to what is happening during this pandemic. So we have three girls here waiting for us and they're going to talk to us about something so let's give us a little insight as to the excitement that they have that they're Oh yeah so we have the storyteller bootcamp coming up. It's a series of virtual and in-person workshops to really I guess marry creative advocacy in a sense when it comes to telling the stories of girls and you know the issues that affect them directly or indirectly or people around them. So we contacted some really really amazing facilitators two of them from Trinidad and Barbados and we have five of them locally so the girls would be doing a series of film filmmaking sessions learning how to do graphic design photography they just wrapped up this week creative writing and journalism. So we meet every day on days and Thursdays at 5 p.m. and the girls break out into their workshops and it's broken up into capacity building designing projects and then implementing them so that on the International Day of the Girl which is in October October 11th 2020 we can actually do a showcase of all the projects that have come out of you know those working sessions. So as we wrap up Chelsea once again thank you so much let us know what's next for you what's the one thing that you want the public to know about Girls of a Feather and let us know how we can contact you. Okay so we like I said we're transitioning full-time so you'll be hearing more about us you'll be hearing more from the team and we we should be launching our programs again by October where we can more volunteers I know a lot of people want to volunteer we need mentors we need volunteers and of course the girls who want to benefit from our programs we'll be inviting you all in October to apply and get back to to business. So you can contact us on Facebook Girls of a Feather SLU on Instagram Girls of a Feather SLU and Gmail at girlsofafeatherslu and gmail.com. Thank you very much Chelsea go follow the page lend your support and join the movement we'll be right back. Wash your hands wash them right with soap and lots of water get between fingers get under the nails go above the wrists do this for no less than 15 seconds rinse properly try with a clean towel if there is no water do the same washing motions with an alcohol-based hand sanitizer containing at least 70% alcohol wash your hands wash them right this message brought to you courtesy the bureau of health education of the ministry of health and wellness welcome back there is always a place for organizations like Girls of a Feather who continue to advocate for and support young people especially girls thank you Chelsea and thank you so much for stepping up for the next segment I chat with two executive members of the group and they tell me about their experience of being a part of Girls of a Feather. Let's look at the interview with Frania Chandler and Shanita Favri. Hey guys welcome back to our feature on Girls of a Feather and I am here with two very excited members and I think I want to make them introduce themselves individually and while you're introducing yourself let us know how long you've been a member for so we'll start with you. Okay hi my name is Frania Chandler I'm 18 years old and I'm the president of the Girls of a Feather National Club I have been with the club for roughly four years I would say. My name is Shanita Favri I am 16 years and I am the PRO and I have been with the club from from last year but part of the company from 2017. Nice so as you did let us know what you like about being a member of Girls of a Feather. Being Girls of a Feather is a pleasure to me because we advocate for girls' rights and we stand up for girls and make their living better. Nice Frania. Well Girls of a Feather has taught me a lot it has really boosted my self-confidence in myself and generally about feminism I have learned a lot and about a lot of things and discussions that I did not really know much about I've learned a lot concerning feminism. Nice I know that you guys have a lot of exciting things that you engage in all the time and Chelsea y'all do a lot of work so let us know about this latest project that you guys are working on and it's ongoing so I don't know who wants to take the mic and answer. Okay we are currently hosting a three-week storyteller book camp we have different facilitators basically on activism, creative writing, journalism and filmmaking and at the end of the three weeks everybody will get to showcase their work for international day of a girl. Frania so why journalism and creative writing what have you learned about it so far what have you taken away from the sessions that you guys have engaged in already? Well currently I'm in filmmaking and I really have learned a lot because prior to the boot camp I had no knowledge I didn't know anything about filmmaking I've learned a lot of little things that probably anybody would just let slide and not know how much a filmmaker actually puts into their work and I have really learned a lot about the little things that matter to make a film what it is so it has been extremely informative and extremely exciting as well because we also do these little activities that engage us and help us to actually put into work what we learn from. Nice so as filmmaking something that you were interested in before and you just happened to get the opportunity to learn more about it because of Godzilla Feather? Yes it was it's something that I've always been interested in and wanted to get into but I've never really found something that well a program that I could get myself into and being a part of Godzilla Feather and us hosting a boot camp like that it was a great opportunity for me to get into it and to learn about something that I have never learned about it. Nice so let us know about you know what was one of the more memorable sessions that you've been a part of in the is it the storyteller boot camp series? Nice I got it. Okay well the storyteller boot camp is exciting because you know I meet new people like all the time my teacher is amazing um not really that's not what Miss Kami Joseph um so not really what I chose but then knowing that I have it now is really good and make me better my speaking skills being the PR of Godzilla Feather and I can write better um but one of my most exciting experiences with Godzilla Feather is the workshop the mentorship program um that was last year was very exciting that's why I met Franjo and that's when I joined the national club. Nice Franjo you mentioned that you're part of um you're the president of the national club let us know what is it that you do on the national club and as you're in your team what have you guys done personally what are some of the things as presidents and in your tenure that you say you could you're proud of doing? Well I've been part of the national club for a little over two and a half years I originally got introduced to Godzilla Feather through Condor Convent branch so before my work was mainly based on what we were doing at school when I started to get involved in the national club I realized that there was a lot to learn and a lot that we were not doing that will really open my mind to a lot of topics one of the things that I'm really proud of that we did as a club would probably be last year like she mentioned the leadership workshop it's something that well I was on the executive last year as well and it's something that we got to be a part of in the planning and the making and it was very it was a very interesting experience it was also we were also part of the workshop as well so while we were working behind the scenes we were also part of it and learning from the different facilities that the workshop had speaking to us so I think that would have that I probably would have been the most proud of especially with the workshop the different groups they had projects that they put out and it was very it was it was really nice to see everybody come up with different topics and to come up with solutions on daily problems that females face the group that there's they ended up making a online forum and for people to speak about well I think it was yeah it was sexual harassment so yeah for teenagers and that's something that I find is that you don't get every day it's it was very interesting to see young people come up and take that initiative on their own and to come up with an actual plan and to actually implement it at the end of the workshop so yeah that was that's something I'm very proud of Seanita you mentioned that you the PRO of the castries comprehensive chapter also on the national club okay so isn't that you'll have a national club and then you have the school chapter yes we have the national club and the different branches at secondary schools okay so let me know what about you in terms of all the things that you've been exposed to what are you most proud of okay well I'm most proud of first well the leadership workshop and also our some different virtual programs during the quarantine we had the self care we had the mental health we had um we didn't have a next skincare skincare and health and um the childhood trauma this was very successful virtual sessions and our club came so some was for club members only and then for the last one for the mental health we opened it up to the public so everybody could have come everybody asked questions very informative everybody was participating and we got good remarks at the end so that was very proud as we are up to questions how does it feel being in a leadership position it goes up a feather and what will you tell your peers your friends why what is it that you'll tell them to come on board and to join the movement we'll start with you Frania so as a leader and I know Frania as a leader so I don't know why she's like I don't know what's that so so continue so let's answer the question so how does it feel to be in a leadership position in such a in my opinion I find goes of a feather is extremely trendy it's with the movement and with the times and it's amazing how much support that they've been able to galvanize so let me know how you feel about being a part of the leadership and what is it that you're going to tell your friends to do to join and why they should join well being a part of the executive really does give you a purpose it makes you feel like you're doing something about problems that you experience on your own so for me seeing that some other things that goes off feather address are things that I have dealt with before internally or that I have been struggling with and the scene that we can actually go out and help other girls speak about these problems break stigmas it's really it's a great feeling honestly so to see that you are making a change it's really good and to tell them what I would tell my friends is don't be scared I would tell them if you want to join something like that and you want to to learn about anything go for it so whether it be goes over feather or another feminist group or any group any young leadership group that is coming up in sen lusia or out of sen lusia I would say to take the chance and be a part of it because you would learn a whole lot more you would meet people it's a great experience overall that's the frania I know I'll be a rapper for future Anita it has been very eye-opening for me seeing the struggles girls face on a day-to-day basis and it's my pleasure to help fix them to make them feel better have like being the person they can talk to about it and for my friends I say that if they have any problems or anything I can help them if they want professional help I can ask I can seek for them um if they want to come join the group it's open and just feel at the application and it's very supportive people very supportive girls because I can help talk to them make friends if they don't have if they feel alone inside we have people to talk to soon thank you so much guys you guys I think Chelsea chose the right ambassadors to come and talk about girls over feathers so again I want to say thank you congratulations on all the work that you guys have been doing fortunate and favors in all the work congratulations continue stepping up and thank you very much we'll be right back back to school is finally here jade you have your hand sanitizer you have your disinfecting wipes I even gave you an extra mask and this one you can put it on jaden wanted a COVID-19 rules wash your hands wear all over your mask and six feet away and show your children are provided with a personal hygiene kit to carry and use on a daily basis items like hand sanitizer wipes and extra masks should be in there remember if your child does not feel well or is showing any flu-like symptoms keep him or her at home ensure your child wears a mask at all times especially upon the arrival at school classrooms have been prepared to ensure physical distancing teachers and support staff will guide students during the day to wash their hands and all surfaces desk chairs door handles and washrooms will be cleaned regularly by now administrations of schools would have communicated the new schedule specific to your child's grade or form lunches will be consumed at the student's desk or outdoors while respecting physical distancing as we start the new school year 2020 2021 we are all adjusting to the new normal that was introduced by COVID-19 I beg of all of you let us observe the guidelines as prescribed by the ministry of health our children teachers educators stakeholders we all depend on one another to do the right thing for the sake of our children and the sake of our nation let us all be vigilant and observe the protocols as defined by the ministry of health one chance says is the directing co-founder and events manager of St Lucia Young Leaders in Canada and their aim is to be the key contributor in various fields of mentorship education youth development community improvement and cultural exchange the mission is to encourage and facilitate youth projects and outreach initiatives while bridging the generational gaps within our culture and diaspora here for our link-up segment I chat with one chance says and says what do you what do you do in Canada I'm a full-time master's student at the University of Guelph I also work full-time at New Life Mills as a nutritional formulator and I am the event manager of the solution young leaders in Canada the solution young leaders in Canada bridging the generational gap through youth empowerment can you tell us a little bit more about that one? if St Lucia Young Leaders in Canada also known as silk our main aim is to be a key contributor in various fields in terms of mentorship education youth development and community improvement cultural exchange and pretty much just bridging that generational gap between the youth and I guess the older generation and creating a youth led organization or youth led initiative in the diaspora especially in Canada what was the basis were you there or is it an organization that you're you're joining or were you part of the development of the organization you told me about two or three years ago yeah I was one of the founders we're pretty still pretty young we're only a little less than two years old so pretty much everybody on our executive board are founders and we all have all different reasons for joining or for creating this organization there's a main reasons why all of us joined this organization is just there was a lack of youth representation in the diaspora um so we all came together and um we had a meeting of the minds and we all raised on what we wanted and so it's a grouping for young professionals young St Lucians who are in Canada pursuing I guess their careers or studies um let us know how can people join or access some of the things that you guys um provide in terms of services or support um so right now you can follow us on instagram twitter at silk to um you can also email us at info at silk.ca um we're still in the early stages of our um framework so like we you're still working on our website we're still working on um like donations and all that but um if anybody wants to join the organization just send us a dm on twitter or instagram or even email us and then we'll add you to the member list for now and then as we grow um you want all of the website that's launched um that'll be easier way for people to join so my last question for you um silk has a non-profit organization being overseas um COVID-19 have you guys assisted anyone in because of the pandemic or has the pandemic changed your programming in any way? I'd say it has tremendously where um we all have big plans for this summer all the different initiatives and that has put a lot of us on pause um pretty much a lot of us are stuck in San Lucia right now um well they are and that has created almost a standstill but not um it hasn't pushed us away from signing and your mandate yeah um but we have reached out to different organizations um to help within COVID um we have been spreading awareness with um from the government of San Lucia and Canada um we did um plan to help send some barrels to the different homes in San Lucia as well um and that's pretty much it for now but as time passes there is more things to come up and yeah nice thank you very much so Juan thank you so much for saying yes and agreeing to have this interview with us um via zoom um tell all your executive members um hello and I hope everyone is doing well and I just wish you guys all the best and you know let's keep let's keep in touch and let's um pay attention to what's going on and how we can continue to assist each other so thank you very much oh no problem thank you for having me that's it for this week's installment of Stepping Up don't forget we are open and ready to learn and feature anyone doing anything positive and impactful in the community just send me an email and stepping up 758 at gmail.com thank you for joining me I'm your host Daniel Dubois see you next time and until then don't forget to keep Stepping Up