Every year, 300 girls from Miches attend the Soy niña, soy importante (I’m a Girl, I’m Important) camp, an initiative that was developed seven years ago by Fundacion Tropicalia in response to the inequalities that we witnessed as a result of the burden these girls carry in termsof domestic work, teenage pregnancy, child marriage and school dropout rates.

The camp provides girls between 9 and 12 years of age living in vulnerable situations, a safe space, where they can simply be girls, and where they participate in recreational activities that carry transformative messages. The program encourages and teaches them to design a positive life plan, to build confidence and to empower themselves to make age appropriate decisions such as continuing their studies, preventing untimely pregnancies, and avoiding and escaping situations of violence.

These activities are traditionally implemented in person, during 3 one-week camps; however, the COVID-19 pandemic presented us with the challenge of reaching 300 girls in a setting of social distancing.

Through “I’m a Girl, I’m Important in a Box”, we are reinventing our work methodology to ensure that we do not leave any of these girls adrift; particularly important during these times of sheltering at home, where stress levels in the homes skyrocket, triggering greater situations of gender-based violence.

Starting in August and running through December, the girls will receive a box every month filled with activities designed around the following themes:

In addition to the thematic activities, each box will contain a snack, guides and recycled materials to complete a creative activity, an experiment, and a didactic activity to reinforce academic objectives based on the girl’s age.

The boxes will include a suggested calendar to complete each activity. Each month, upon delivery of the boxes, the girls will receive a brief tutorial on the use of the materials and then the volunteers, who usually participate in the camp and who know the girls, will be in charge of doing the pertinent follow-up by phone and/or video.

We would love to invite our friends and past donors to join us in keeping the girls’ dream of being able to participate in the I’m a Girl, I’m Important activities alive, even if this year is not in the traditional camp format. A $20 donation supplies a girl with a box and makes such a valuable impact on her life. We look forward to your help! You can click the link for more details: snsi.fundaciontropicalia.com/donate