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Girls/Boyz First All Girls Mentoring Retreat
We just had our first all girl pairs retreat last Saturday. The intention of the retreat was to deepen the mentoring relationship between the girls and their mentors in the hopes that the pairs will continue beyond middle school crazies and also to foster leadership development for the mentees.
Planning started more than a year ago, with one of my mentors who works in leadership development collaborating with me (we were able to pay her a token $250 for time and use of her space for the retreat). Our initial funding proposals didn't pan out, so we scaled the retreat down to a smaller scale than originally planned.
We held the retreat at "Dreamland" in Worcester, the home of one the mentor. Dreamland consists of 70 acres, complete with teepee and pond, outhouses and gardens. We initially had 6 pairs commit last January and when the day arrived , we were down to 4 pairs. Each had been together from 1 1/2 to 4 years. The mentors ages were 40, 60, 70, and 77 and the mentees were three 13 year olds and a 12 year old.
The day began at 10:00 in the teepee (there was light rain) with a guided meditation and yoga. Then we broke into mentor/mentee pairs and repeated and answered a bunch of questions again and again..."what do you love? what are you good at? what do you dream of?...etc" The pairs hads lots of lively interaction and sharing was very energetic. We proceeded from there to partake in a mask making activity, whereby a former mentor of 6 years in the program. The activity was quite intimate, with pairs vaseling each others faces, applying plaster bandages and waiting for them to dry and peel off. Lots of verbal and non-verbal communication took place. The masks came out great. The activity took about 1 1/2 hours. Here's the link to our photos of the day-picassaweb.google.com/wandalu1/MentorRetreat#
Then we enjoyed lunch outside at the picnic table as the rain had stopped by then. The lunch was mini bagels, cheese or pb, salad, chips and drinks and homebaked cookies. One mentor pair was responsible for each meal!
Next, we had a workshop on body image and the menstrual cycle. Oh my goddess, was our presenter awesome. She's a local herbalist with a passion for teaching girls about female health. Home sewn female reproductive puppets, questions and answers, both verbal and anonymous written ones. Great questions and discussions with squirmy and focused girls and radiantly smiling mentors!
We followed this with a nature walk where we played games in the woods, listened to nature using all of our senses and found a Piliated Woodpecker skull and feathers. ...Came back and decorated our masks from the morning with glitter and paint and feathers. Also decorated and painted horse shoes, a project planned by one of the pairs.
Off to the pond for a before dinner dip and a little down time. Dinner was chicken stew, bread and butter, salad and s'mores around the campfire. We had a mentor and friend arrive for songs and guitar and while the girls played around the mentors relaxed and listened and sang.
We closed the evening with the reading aloud of a Finnish creation myth about a girl who creates the world and a poem reading about choosing to be with our power and light. We did a go around of our reflections from the day, with a few questions bubbling back up re: healthy sexuality issues from the afternoon's workshop. Safe and sacred space was created...bonding occured and a wonderful day was had by all.
Planning started more than a year ago, with one of my mentors who works in leadership development collaborating with me (we were able to pay her a token $250 for time and use of her space for the retreat). Our initial funding proposals didn't pan out, so we scaled the retreat down to a smaller scale than originally planned.
We held the retreat at "Dreamland" in Worcester, the home of one the mentor. Dreamland consists of 70 acres, complete with teepee and pond, outhouses and gardens. We initially had 6 pairs commit last January and when the day arrived , we were down to 4 pairs. Each had been together from 1 1/2 to 4 years. The mentors ages were 40, 60, 70, and 77 and the mentees were three 13 year olds and a 12 year old.
The day began at 10:00 in the teepee (there was light rain) with a guided meditation and yoga. Then we broke into mentor/mentee pairs and repeated and answered a bunch of questions again and again..."what do you love? what are you good at? what do you dream of?...etc" The pairs hads lots of lively interaction and sharing was very energetic. We proceeded from there to partake in a mask making activity, whereby a former mentor of 6 years in the program. The activity was quite intimate, with pairs vaseling each others faces, applying plaster bandages and waiting for them to dry and peel off. Lots of verbal and non-verbal communication took place. The masks came out great. The activity took about 1 1/2 hours. Here's the link to our photos of the day-picassaweb.google.com/wandalu1/MentorRetreat#
Then we enjoyed lunch outside at the picnic table as the rain had stopped by then. The lunch was mini bagels, cheese or pb, salad, chips and drinks and homebaked cookies. One mentor pair was responsible for each meal!
Next, we had a workshop on body image and the menstrual cycle. Oh my goddess, was our presenter awesome. She's a local herbalist with a passion for teaching girls about female health. Home sewn female reproductive puppets, questions and answers, both verbal and anonymous written ones. Great questions and discussions with squirmy and focused girls and radiantly smiling mentors!
We followed this with a nature walk where we played games in the woods, listened to nature using all of our senses and found a Piliated Woodpecker skull and feathers. ...Came back and decorated our masks from the morning with glitter and paint and feathers. Also decorated and painted horse shoes, a project planned by one of the pairs.
Off to the pond for a before dinner dip and a little down time. Dinner was chicken stew, bread and butter, salad and s'mores around the campfire. We had a mentor and friend arrive for songs and guitar and while the girls played around the mentors relaxed and listened and sang.
We closed the evening with the reading aloud of a Finnish creation myth about a girl who creates the world and a poem reading about choosing to be with our power and light. We did a go around of our reflections from the day, with a few questions bubbling back up re: healthy sexuality issues from the afternoon's workshop. Safe and sacred space was created...bonding occured and a wonderful day was had by all.
Comment
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Comment by Wendy Farber on September 23, 2009 at 2:29pm - Thanks!!
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Comment by Janet Heartson on September 23, 2009 at 2:02pm - Thanks for sharing that Wendy. I totally loved the whole days activities. What a blessing it was for those mentees and mentors! Great ideas. Janet
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Comment by Wendy Farber on September 17, 2009 at 12:26pm
- Check out photos at: picassaweb.google.com/wandalu1/MentorRetreat#
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