TARA FOUNDATION
WOMEN EMPOWERMENT WEEKEND
TARA Foundation organizes a weekend away – Women empowerment agenda.
Stories bring facts to life, make the abstract concrete and, through meaning making, walk the listener through the mind of the scientist or mathematician (Ellis, 2005) to understand the value and application of such concepts. Wells (1986) argued that storytelling is a fundamental approach of meaning making. Community participation helps youth become empathetic citizens who could potentially continue similar work when they become adults. Additionally, youth who give back to their communities develop leadership skills, learn the importance of helping, and gain work experiences.
Benefits of storytelling in early childhood education includes :
- Improved language skills
- Heightened memory
- Fosters imaginative, creative thinking and cognitive skills. …
- Encourages enthusiasm for learning, writing and reading. …
- Develops cultural and moral understanding.
- Better communication skills
- Increases curiosity and imagination. …
- Emphasizes focus and social skills.
Most women who live in poverty, have walked the journey of a troubled life. Being abused by the spouse or children and working more than one job to earn a decent wage is something that they see far too often in their lifetime. For women like these, they not only suffer from psychological damage and low self-esteem, but they also end up not knowing how to raise their children differently than how they were raised.
TARA organized a weekend at Janda Baik to raise the self esteem of such mothers, as well as teach them women empowerment. The purpose of having this weekend away, was not only to give them a break from their hectic lifestyle, but also to shine light to them, other people whom they can reach out to, when help is needed. This weekend away consisted of workshops on how to create handmade gifts, other techniques that could generate a side income for these mothers.
Most mothers are constantly under pressure to live out motherhood on their own, and not ask for favours, as they would be deemed weak. It was time to reverse that mindset, and teach all mothers that help is readily available whenever they want it. The participants were grateful that they got to be a part of something meaningful, and they look forward to the next time we would all meet.