In keeping with our mission to give girls the resources to fight discrimination and abuse, and to empower them to reach their fullest potential, we are delighted to announce our newest program, Girls Empowerment. We chose to increase our focus on the lives of our girls as a logical extension of our efforts to empower women. Dwa Fanm’s caseworkers encounter girls who need special attention; also, many stories of human rights struggle, both in Haiti and America, involve girls; the problem of restavek.

History and Background

Our programs first reflected a specific focus on girls in October 2001. We held a "Self Defense Seminar", in collaboration with the Brooklyn Women's Martial Arts Center. There, Haitian women and girls were learning self-defense skills to protect themselves or to stay alive in situations of attack and harassment.

A few weeks later, Dwa Fanm launched its first annual "Girls' Empowerment Day." Mothers were encouraged to teach young Haitian and American girls about the importance of self-esteem, self-confidence, health and sports, as well as the contributions of women from various cultures to our society and to the world. Girls learned about women heroes.

For our second annual Girls Empowerment day, we hosted at party for girls ages 5 to 19, at St. Jerome’s church in Flatbush. It featured a self-defense class, workshops on crime prevention, assertiveness, relationships and self-esteem. Also featured “Go Girl Go” by Girls for Gender Equity In Sports and the Women’s Sports Foundation.

Also in October 2002, we began a partnership with Girls Inc. of New York City, a non-profit organization that works to develop and enrich the lives of girls mainly from underserved populations. We attended two out of the three workshops that comprise Girls Inc.’s Project Bold; an extensive, thorough model of teaching girls empowerment. In Dwa Fanm’s girls program, Kid-Ability is a personal safety program that empowers girls with information, skills, and support they need to keep safe from sexual abuse. Action for Safety, our first initiative, is a course on self-defense.

Girls Inc, believes that there is a real problem of “girls and violence but the critical issue is not violence by girls - its violence to girls”. Girls will be taught to take charge of her life, to develop the strength of self knowledge to shape their personal environment and the larger society.

Some skills that coordinator Marie C. Guillaume is teaching:

• Assertive Behaviors: How to stand straight and tall, look right at someone, and with a strong, confident voice, state clear, concise messages such as “no,” and “stop that.”
• Say No - Run Away - Tell an Adult: How to say “no” to someone who makes her feel uncomfortable or asks her to do something unsafe.
• Check First Rule: The importance of checking with parents before accepting a gift or going anywhere; the rule applies to people she knows as well as people she doesn’t know.
• Store Safety: What to do if she gets lost in a store, such as calling loudly for parents by name and going to a store employee to ask for help.
• Good Touches and Problem Touches: She will learn about the private parts of her body (those covered by a swim suit) and that no one has the right to touch another person’s private body parts inappropriately.
• 911 Emergency Help: How to make 911 calls and the importance of knowing her address and telephone number.
• Trusted Adults: She will identify people at home, in school, and in the neighborhood that can help her when she has a problem or concern.
• Future workshops: will include HIV Awareness, Career Development and Empowerment, and Sexual Harassment.

On May 30th, we held our first meeting at the Haitian American Alliance, 210 Linden Boulevard, Brooklyn NY. Twenty-five adolescent attended the community outreach educational dinner. There were discussions about the project, sexual harassment in schools and in their own neighborhoods and self defense methods were also introduced. Trainer Marie demonstrated simple self defense moves and stressed the importance of being aware of your surroundings.

Read about us

Our first quarterly newsletter, Fanm Vanyan (Brave Woman) published March 2002, includes an insert for our girl readers, Ti Fi Vanyan (Brave Girl). We included an ongoing series of stories on girl heroes, and several features girls’ health, self-esteem, and the relevance of our restavek work.

Call our office at (718) 230-4027 to make reservations to our meetings.