I Am Woman
What do you love about being a female? Is it the fact that you can be girly, a mum, a nurturer, sensitive, pampered, more able to multitask, wear nice things or perhaps it’s simply because womanhood gives permission for us girls to show emotions unashamedly? Most likely it’s all those things and more, we all have our list. No matter what the reasons, one thing’s for sure; we should celebrate with joy, our femaleness. There will be seasons, some good while others come with great challenge but if we draw from the strengths and abilities given to us for each and every one of those seasons, they will cause us to
FLOURISH.
‘The strength of a woman is not measured by the impact that all her hardships in life have had on her; but the strength of a woman is measured by the extent of her refusal to allow those hardships to dictate her and who she becomes.’ – C. Joybell C
Stories
The Women of Sri Lanka!
Deb Hilton shares: “As a developer and trainer of the Flourish Program, it was incredibly rewarding to experience the delivery of a participant course I assisted recently. Asked to support in the running of Flourish in Sri Lanka, my heart was full as I witnessed transformation take place in the lives of these beautiful Sri Lankan women. One lady who was illiterate, the only one in the group, particularly impacted me. Watching her navigate through each activity alongside her literate friends was something to behold. Although, she could neither read nor write, she chose to engage anyway. During the first day however, our Flourish team decided to move from using the all written option to the picture option even though she was just one in a group of many. Did it change the flow and desired outcomes for the whole group? Not at all, but it made a significant difference for the one. Amazing to watch.
We, the Development Management Team always knew the impact FLOURISH would bring to the lives of women across the globe and this experience has confirmed that. I am forever grateful for the message of Flourish.”
My heartfelt thanks for the opportunity Sonja Gunawardhana and Alison Atkinson. Go team Sri Lanka!
New Places
Could Iraq be next?
While chatting with a friend from Adelaide recently, she told me (Deb), that she had been asked by her organisation to go Iraq to visit the women’s refugee camps. This friend said that when she goes, she would really like to run a program with these women that will impact their lives. I just had to tell her about FLOURISH and her response was: “I am so excited about the potential for this.”
How wonderful would it be to see our program used to empower these women!
New Ideas
Egg Timer 
During small group discussions, it is always rewarding to observe participants engaged in these interactions. It thrills our hearts when we see girls opening up, feeling comfortable to share freely what is on their hearts. We will however inevitably find there are some who become completely unaware of time, leaving no room for others to share. We don’t want to cut them off, but at the same time, do we don’t want others miss out either, so what do we do without offending?
A possible solution during these heart-to-hearts could be by using an egg timer. Having this placed in the middle of the table as a visible reminder to those who are sharing could prompt the girls to remember they each have an allocated time limit. Maybe a set of countdown numbers could also work.
Got a new idea? Tell us about it, we would love to hear it.
Your ideas are important to us as they could benefit other facilitators.
Upcoming Training
NEXT MULTINATIONAL TTT (Train the Trainer) held at Flourish Head Office
Where: AOGWR Ministry & Operations Centre, Da Nang, Vietnam
When: Thursday 29 September – Saturday 01 October, 2016
Cost: US 50 which includes Course material, licensing and refreshments
If you have anyone interested in coming we will need to know this week
Flourish Team
We the Flourish Management team are here for you so feel free to contact us anytime
Flourish email address: flourish@aogwr.org
Closed Flourish Facebook page – https://www.facebook.com/groups/1464136667217751/
(if you are not on our Flourish Facebook page but wish to, please let us know)
NOTE: All stories and photos are used with permission