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| Chief Superindendent Andy Ewing presenting Commendation to Ebun |
It was a great evening and the girls from Finding The Words Programme rose to the occasion as always of course. Everyone dressed up beautifully to present their film to an audience of head teachers, teachers, councillors, parents and friends and of course to the Borough Commander Andy Ewing who was behind the whole event.
We do things simply at Arc, but we love to welcome people to our home. Nita and Natalie went to Tescos and bought some lovely nibbles kindly funded by Andy's team. Natalie and the girls have a thing about cake on the FTW programme, so we always have some yummy goodies! And yesterday was no exception!
The evening opened with Natalie and Grace (Film maker) sharing the vision and ambitions of the programme. They then passed over to the girls, who took it in turn to share their experiences of the programme. It made me tingle to hear them speak with such power and confidence, especially those young women who had started the project as shy and quiet girls. Their passion to speak up as and for young women reminds me of thirty years ago when I was heavily involved in the Women's movement. This is a new way of doing things.
I was particularly struck by how much impact their presentation to the boys only audience at Warren school had on the girls and I was so impressed by how clearly they spoke about the opportunity to speak to boys about their experiences. I was fortunate enough to have attended the Warren presentation, and I saw how enormous it was for our young women to stand up and talk directly to boys of their own age and older about how it is to be treated badly by boys, and how they won't stand for it.
Natalie told the audience how BBM went wild after that performance with the message "No means no" passing from student to student. This memorable phrase is one which is repeated in the excellent poem that four of our girls performed last night.
Ebun spoke about her visit with Sarah, Precious and Sefumni to see our new Patron Jon Snow at Channel 4, and how they sat in the control box to see Jon's news programme live. This has made a big impact on them! After the girls addressed the audience, they presented their film. There was silence in the room and when the film finished the audience erupted with warm applause.
At this point in the evening, Chief Superindendent Andy Ewing spoke to us. It was wonderful to hear our local senior police officer speak with such passion and enthusiasm about the girls' work. Andy said he had been very moved by the film and the girl's work and that he feels that girls have the key to unlocking some of the core issues around teenage domestic violence. Andy said that the presentation of these commendations to the girls is a departure for him, as they are usually reserved for police staff and local individuals who serve the community.
Andy presented each of the girls with their framed commendations, speaking a citation to each which Natalie had written to honour each person's contribution.
The evening ended with further discussion, more photos and lots of cake!
A very big thank you to Andy for having this lovely idea and for honouring our wonderful young women, who will be moving forward as leaders, role models and mentors for young women in our community.
What a special evening it was - I am totally in awe of our fabulous girls - leaders of the future!
Some Iphone photos of a few of the presentations.
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| Andy Speaks to the FTW young women |
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| Andy Presents Commendation to Sefunmi |
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| Katherine |
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| Phoebe |
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| Andy with the Commendation Certificate |
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| Cherry Kandi |
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| Sylvia |
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