Working with the Grupo de Chicas

Fiona one of our newest volunteers hasn't had a problem fitting in amongst the girls at our youth group. Here's a short glimpse of what she and the other volunteers have done to create a safe environment for the young women of Ushpa Ushpa.

Since starting work at Proyecto Horizonte I’ve only been to the girls’ group twice so far but it’s fast becoming my favourite part of the week. It’s on once a week for about 3 hours and it’s a place for the girls of Ushpa-Ushpa to come and hang out, listen to music, and get to know each other. 

And it’s the getting to know each other part that is the main focus of the group at the moment. Or rather, confidence and trust in each other. After talking to the girls about who they could talk to if they had a problem or a secret, the overwhelming response was apparently ‘no one’. They don’t have anyone they trust enough to confide in; and this is something that surely has to change. Being a teenager is hard enough as it is, but not having anyone to talk to about it must make it that much harder.

So, that’s what tonight’s group was about. And I loved it.

We started off with jewellery-making and, although it didn’t start up too many conversations since everyone was concentrating pretty hard, it was fun to see what everyone produced at the end, and the girls let me take a few snaps of their handiwork.

Then, Jennifer came up with a great game to break the ice between the girls. It basically meant everybody ended up sitting on top of each other and laughing a lot, so the physical barriers between the girls were broken down which definitely helps a lot when it comes to trust.

The next game was Truth or Dare. Dangerous territory, but everyone made it through unscathed. I thought this was a great idea because both truth and dare require a certain amount of trust in the people you’re with: you tell the truth in the hope that you won’t get ridiculed, and you do a dare in the hope you won’t get ridiculed.

But the lights cut out halfway through. And, after a bit of screaming and running around, the group turned to the one activity you just have to do during a blackout: ghost stories. And, although I didn’t understand much of them (I know there was something about a black dog), it was fun to just sit in the dark and listen to the girls telling stories.

Overall, it was a really good night and I think the girls are beginning to trust each other more, and, as they see our faces there every week, I hope they’ll begin to trust us volunteers as well.