WHAT IS A GIRL

1. WHAT IS A GIRL

2. We are adolescent girls from Kobe Refugee Camp in Ethiopia. Many of us are in school, but like all the girls in the camp we do a lot of house work. WFP provides food to the refugees here. Today was food distribution day so we are at the mill to grind up the maize we received. With this food, we help prepare dinner for our families. Girls are not expected to be much in our culture. We get married around 15-16, have babies, and are expected to take care of our husbands, children, and clean and cook. But girls can do more and be more. Girls can study, have ambitions, study, and become a teacher, engineer, or politician. We would like to be supported to pursue our goals. We can do the same things boys can do. We ask that our families and communities treat boys and girls the same way.

3. My name is Rahma. I am a Somali refugee girl. My family fled Somalia because of the famine and conflict. In Somalia I have never gone to school, but here at Kobe camp, I began attending school and a program implemented by the International Medical Corps at the Girl Center. At the Girl Center, I take computer class and English class. But like all girls here, after classes I take care of my younger brother and cook dinner for the family. I have many other responsibilities that sometimes interferes with my school work. I want to become a health care worker someday. I want to help sick people and earn enough money to help my family. At the Girl Center, I can talk to other girls about my future dreams. They challenge me to work hard and we encourage each other to achieve our goals.

4. My name is Sadioand I’m from a rural village in Somalia.Back home we had animals that we made our living from, but they alldied because of the drought. My family then fled to Ethiopia and we live as refugees here at Kobe camp. Girls from our home village often don’t go to school. In our culture, girls normally have a lot of responsibilities. I am lucky I can go to schoolhere. Everyday before going to school, I wake up early to prepare breakfast for the whole family. This often makes me late for school and I’m sometimes punished for it. When I get back from school, I have many activities like fetching water, taking care of my younger siblings, and preparing dinner. I never had time to play and I didn’t have anyone to call a friend. But since joining the girl center program in the camp, I made a lot of friends, and I get to learn a lot of different things like working with the computer. We also play ball together and dance to music. The staff of the girl center discussed many things with my parents and I’m very happy now that a lot of responsibilities I had are now shared with other family members.