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By Shari Narine
Windspeaker.com Contributor
EDMONTON
Niffy Holloway is a shining example of what happens when an organization believes in its young women and those young women believe in themselves.
In 2011, Holloway participated in the first Esquao Independence program offered by the Institute for the Advancement of Aboriginal Women. In the years that followed, she took part in several other programs, including Empowering Youth, but even more importantly, she built a relationship with those in IAAW.
Now, she has come full circle working with girls to impart the same self-confidence she learned through IAAW programs.
“It feels exciting,” said Holloway. ““I’ve seen that there’s a lot of growth (in me) and IAAW in a way impacted my life.”
Holloway is one of two leaders of IAAW’s 2017 Summer Esquao Leadership Program, which runs through to the end of August. The camp started off with a dozen girls, but numbers dropped later in the month with several other camps – including one at Norquest College, which offers high school credits – running at the same time.
It’s an opportunity, say participants Paris Bruno and Kayla Steinhauer, to try something new and to build up self-esteem.
Steinhauer, 14, from the Saddle Lake First Nation, will be entering Grade 9 at Spruce Avenue School in Edmonton. She’s hoping the self-confidence she learns through this program will enable her to participate in more school activities.
“I want to not be shy and to be able to make new friends,” said Bruno, 12, from the Alexander First Nation, who is starting Grade 7 at Londonderry School in Edmonton.
For Braell Young, 16, of the Bigstone Cree Nation, it’s a chance to learn about her culture. She will be starting Grade 11 at Sturgeon Composite High School in Bon Accord this fall.
Learning about their culture and spiritual lives is a popular request from the girls, who attend the program, says Nancy Peekeekoot, program director.
Culture and spirituality, she says, help with leadership and safety, the two main focuses of the month-long camp which runs two days per week.
“Safety being, we’re really trying to address and prevent violence against girls and women,” said Peekeekoot. “What we’re trying to do is really increase their safety.”
That is done through building confidence and helping the girls speak out. Numerous activities push the girls to stretch beyond their comfort zones.
“That’s really big because if they have confidence, they have a voice. They can use their voice if they are hurt or if they feel they are in an unsafe relationship then they’re able to disclose and talk about it,” said Peekeekoot.
The camp also includes nutrition and exercise, incorporating meditation and relaxation skills to help the girls cope with stress. The girls have also been introduced to smudging as a way to keep calm and feel better.
“The healthier we are the more apt we are to make better choices for ourselves,” said Peekeekoot. “Feeding our body, our soul and our mind.”
She says a good way to evaluate how much the girls have grown during the month-long program comes at the end with an open circle. If the girls are easier with each other and more comfortable about speaking out that means their level of confidence has increased.
“A change in their personality, a change in their demeanour … if they’re happier. You can normally see that just in the way their body language is, if they’re smiling and laughing. Those are the more immediate results,” said Peekeekoot. “But the long-term results that we would want to see … is to be able to reconnect with them later on in life and hopefully they will reconnect with us and they’ll still be in school, graduating from school, still training and still wanting to improve themselves. Those are the things we’re going to look for.”
Empowerment, through self-confidence, education, and career choices, are all ways to break the cycle of violence and addictions, she adds.