People Skills

Participant, Girl Determined, Myanmar

“I like playing volleyball in groups.  Now we are playing with some boys also in our free time. I learned to bump/pass the ball but I don’t know how to bend my knees very well.  The lessons that I learned are about unity, team work and understanding each other.  If we don’t have unity then the chance for success is very little.

Now I can relate much better with other people – those my age and those in positions of authority too.  Even the people that I don’t really like very much. I think girls can change the world because in the past we thought that girls could not change because girls didn’t know their rights.  Now, we are coming to know our rights and we can ask for protecting and acquiring our rights so we can get the opportunity we need to lead.  Before there were no girl or women leaders and so we didn’t know that our rights were being violated and that we were facing such discrimination.  Now we are learning ways to demand and secure our rights, at least at the level of our community.  If a woman becomes a leader she will know how to secure the rights of girls and women.  If a man is just leading he will just continue with the status quo.  He will just give the opportunities to other men.

 As a group we would want to ask some of the political leaders of our community for equality of wages for girls and women and also for equal access to education.  We want to secure our rights to education and I think we can organise as girls to push the community leader.  Our community is not so supportive and he might listen. 

Playing sports have improved my relationships and I have also become healthy.  In the past I was sluggish, but now I have more energy and am more active.”