Mentoring The Women of Hawaiʻi
An informative piece on Girls to Women Mentoring Hawaiʻi and how to get involved!
Staff Writer Holly S. Trowbridge
Photos provided by Girls to Women Mentoring Hawaiʻi
“The vision of the organization is to provide a supportive space for adolescents that identify with the gender of ‘girl’ to gather in circle during school to develop healthy community, to share and be heard, and to develop skills to navigate their paths to womanhood in self-sustaining ways through school-based mentorship circles and rites of passage workshops.”
Are you a woman desiring to mentor others or do you know a young lady in need of guidance? What about a girl interested in attending coming-of-age workshops or a girl who is struggling with confidence and self-love? That’s just what Girls to Women Mentoring Hawaiʻi is for.
“The vision of the organization is to provide a supportive space for adolescents that identify with the gender of ‘girl’ to gather in circle during school to develop healthy community, to share and be heard, and to develop skills to navigate their paths to womanhood in self-sustaining ways through school-based mentorship circles and rites of passage workshops,” says Alison Ellis, one of the co-founders for Girls to Women Mentoring Hawaiʻi.
The mentoring clan was started in October 2017 when a collective of women came together last year with the mission to provide school-based mentorship programs for girls. “It began from a post made by Mirabai Galashan on a women's group page on Facebook calling out for women to join in creating an organization for girls in Hawaiʻi, and the page attracted women from multiple backgrounds who were also actively planning to carry out this mission,” Ellis continued.
When it comes to why these brave warrior-like women chose to begin the organization, there was a myriad of feelings. “As a woman, I have received tremendous support and encouragement from other women,” says Shakti Hoku Douglass, secretary of the Girls to Women Mentoring Organization. “I’ve been hosting women’s circles and find them a key component to thriving in our changing world. For the last ten years, I‘ve been a part of the Path of Self Love whose mission is to teach people how to create a strong inner foundation of confidence, compassion, courage and intuition, using the power of self-love.”
“As the mother of a daughter who grew up on the islands, I have seen the challenges our youth face,” Douglass states. “Girls need mentors. Girls need models. Girls need a place to talk, to get inspired, to be seen and to be heard. We all wished that we had all had role models and mentors to navigate the challenges growing up.”
The women who began this wonderful program have passion at the heart. They wanted to see a change, and they proactively decided to make that vision a reality. As Douglass continued, “The program helps women to develop their skills and strengths to promote gender equity, health, resilience, empowerment, and competence for women.”
Ellis went on to explain: “We’re excited to announce that we will be collaborating with the Sociology Department at UH Hilo for mentors and research for our pilot program in January 2019 in Pāhoa. Specifically, Marina Karides is heading the internship program which will take applicants in October. The six-to-eight interns from UH Hilo will be trained as mentors to sit in a circle with the adolescents. Our plan is to expand to other parts of the island for year-long programs in fall of the 2019-2020 school year.”