To celebrate all the amazing work that our Member Organisations have been doing to bring Free Being Me to girls and boys all over the world, throughout December we will be sharing success stories from Member Organisations (MOs) who have benefitted from the Free Being Me fund. We interviewed Girl Guides of Zimbabwe to see how FBM has had an impact:
How has the Free Being Me fund benefited your MO?
Through funding we managed to train 90 leaders and gave them each a printed activity pack. The FBM team travelled to three of our main provinces- that is Manicaland, Mashonaland and Matabeleland to deliver training and we have also used funding to increase our outreach for FBM into rural areas.
What has been the reaction to Free Being Me?
Free Being Me has brought a new energy and excitement to Guiding in Zimbabwe, since it is a topic that affects both young and old, female and male.
Taking part in Free Being Me was a wonderful experience for me, since so many turned out to share and have fun, learning to love one another and at the end encouraging the girls to love themselves.
Tinashe Kadzirange, Young Leader
Why is the issue of body confidence important in your country?
Body confidence is important in our country because it will help girls, young women, boys and men to reach their fullest potential in life, thus giving back to our country economically, political and socially:
A lack of confidence prevents a lot of people to participate in certain activities. If this is not addressed, children will mature to be adults who turn down job interviews when they are the right people for the jobs. A lot of romantic relationships have failed due to the insecurities in one partner who have no confidence in themselves. Lack of body confidence has caused a lot of children to resort to skin bleaching using mercury which is harmful to their health.
Body confidence is important because it is the first quality that moulds a leader, and in Zimbabwe we have few female youth leaders. As a result there is a need to make young women more confident in themselves so that we can have many female aspiring candidates.
Hezel Zaranyika, member of FBM team