Group Leader Segomotso and her guiding group, The Kgato Girl Guides Unit, took part in the Action on Body Confidence programme by holding activities including a swim suit photoshoot to celebrate body diversity…
We asked Segomotso to tell us more about the Kgato girls action project..
“The aim of our action project was to take part in body confidence activities which demonstrate that body shaming is wrong. We aimed to improve our self-esteem by celebrating diversity. We invited members of our community and local youth groups to get involved.”
The Kgato girls Principal gave the group permission to use their school as the venue for their action project and supported them to invite other schools and youth groups into the school premises.
The group held a discussion on unpacking the image myth, where they challenged society’s pressure to live up-to unrealistic body image expectations promoted on social media. “We shared stories concerning body image and invited people who attended the activity sessions to share their stories too.”
Participants also took part in the ‘Build Me Up’ activity, where they wrote down positive notes about themselves including things they love doing and personality traits. They then displayed their notes together as a collection of positive notes.
Segomotso spoke to us about the achievements the Kgato Girl Guides have made. “It makes me feel very happy and inspired to know that participators and guides have learned how to recognise the importance of their abilities and the inner person and not to judge people based on their appearance. Everyone is unique and has their own body type.”
Since finishing the project another local youth group has asked the Kgato girls to run the same project in some local high schools. “The image myth hits hard in high schools and bullying can be heightened during this point of life so we are looking forward to reaching more guides and young people by running these activities again.”
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