Girls just wanna have fun!

Girls just wanna have fun

A guest post by Franziska, one of our Girl Ambassadors

It doesn’t matter where and how we live or how much money we have, girls are girls – that is one statement that I can personally relate too.

When I visited Urmila and the girls in Fiji, I had the privilege of attending a local traditional Indian wedding, which was an amazing experience for me.

Sitting outside under a temporary tin roof, on benches covered in chips wrapper foil, were people dressed immaculately in glittering and shining materials of all colours imaginable. If you looked at the girls, well groomed in sparkling sarees and dazzling bangles and jewellery you would not have believed that they are struggling to get by each day or that they lived in little more than a tin shack.  What surprised me was how much, although struggling to stay on their feet, these people and especially the girls enjoyed stepping out, dressing up and presenting themselves to the community. There was a big buzz at home prior to the wedding, as the girls tried to brush themselves out as much as possible.

Being a teenager I remember the first time I got to wear makeup at a primary school play and how proud I had been and noticed that this was very similarly with Kajal (Urmila’s daughter) and the other girls, who were very excited to try out a little mascara our powder from their mother or sister. Bangles and other jewellery were also shared around so that everyone, including myself, got a fair share. It was great to see not only the way the women and girls connected and supported each other by helping each other, sharing clothes and jewellery or doing some henna on each others hands, but also how although they may come from a different background and culture and have a very different lifestyle, girls everywhere are not much different at the core.

Franziska X

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