WOMAN!
AGILE girls perform at their fall open house.
By: Ahlam Hassan
Young African women caught in U.S. culture clash
By: Ahlam Hassan
Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
Originally posted 2/9/2005
The AGILE program is helping them sort things out
The African Girls Initiative for Leadership and Empowerment (AGILE) is a program that was created in 1998 by the Minnesota African Womens Association (MAWA). Their mission is to Promote the health and well being of African refugee and immigrant women and their families.
Currently, 65 girls are members of AGILE; they are divided up in four different clubs. All four clubs consist of girls from Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia, Somalia, Ethiopia, Uganda and Kenya.
The core values of AGILE are to strengthen and expand the self-esteem of young African refugee women and to rebuild their past and connect it to their present in the United States. Understanding ones heritage and culture gives young refugee women the opportunity to create a balanced life in the United States.
According to MAWA Executive Director Nyango Melissa Nambangi and AGILE Coordinator Patricia Dawa-Charity, AGILE participants:
- Have unique identities, and are bicultural,
- Need an atmosphere that nurtures positive, strong, and beautiful self-images,
- Are healthy,
- Are learning cooperatively,
- Are making a difference in their community,
- Set goals and never give up,
- Expand and extend their horizons, and Respect positive African ways.
AGILE has been created in response to concerned parents, who wanted a program for their daughters that is empowering, has a positive influence on the young girls lives, and gives them a structured support system outside of their family that they can lean back on. It is likely that AGILE gives worried parents some peace of mind.
Nambangi collaborated with a board which is made up of members who represent all regions of Africa to create AGILE. According to Nambangi, they make sure that each region of Africa is represented on the board as well as non-African men and women, too. Cofounder and board chair Ada Beh is from West Africa, board secretary Hani Hussein is from East Africa, treasurer Anietie Umoeka is from West Africa, and assistant secretary Kim Oftedahl-Brooks hails from the U.S. There is truly a mix of diverse people who make up the board, and past members of this board came also from South, East and West Africa.
The AGILE program was established in 1998, but officially started in 2004. Nambangi said, These young girls and their parents needed us. When their parents go off to their jobs working different shifts and holding up various employments, these girls are left behind with a lot of time on their hands and they dont know what to do with themselves.
It took awhile for Nambangi and Dawa-Charity to get AGILE up and going, due to their own schedule, which consists of many volunteer services. They began the program on July 12, 2004, with a three-week mini-day camp.
AGILE members meet once a week to talk about African history, learn traditional dances, and talk about the problems the girls face in school or in any other part of their lives. Dawa-Charity said that the girls are always excited to come in and spend their afternoon at the Brian Coyle Center or at any of the other centers around town.
AGILE members are divided into different age groups. Eight- to 11-year-olds, who are called Watotos (young children in Swahili), meet once a week at the Brian Coyle Center. The Intombis (12- to 14-year-olds), which means Young Girl in Zulu, meet also once a week at the Park Haven Apartments. Last but not least, the Ngondedi (15- to 19-year-olds), which means young lady in Duala and Oroko, meet at Park Center High.
For Nome Xaphakdy, a University of Minnesota student, her experience with the young girls has been extraordinary. Xaphakdy said, I enjoyed working with MAWA and the AGILE program. I learned so much about African culture and customs from working with the girls.
Xaphakdy she was able to see the girls gain self-esteem as the program went on. I have seen positive changes regarding the girls. At the open house, the girls were shy to get up in front of people to sing, but at the end they were not as shy to recite the affirmation. I believe the AGILE program has given them more confidence and self-esteem. The girls are excited to learn and see new things.
One of AGILEs main missions is to close a widening generational and cultural gap between parents and their children. Coming to a new country created for the parents a side effect that they did not expect. Many young girls are confused about the different cultures, which clash against one another on a daily basis.
Many times they choose to adopt what they see on MTV or any other popular TV programs for young people.
According to Nambangi, it is great that they are observing and learning about the American culture, but loosing their own culture along the way will only hurt them in the long run.
Many mothers came to me saying that we have to do something. They were worried about their girls and the negative outside influences they are being exposed to on a daily basis, said Nambangi.
The Minnesota African Womens Association is located at 37th Avenue North in Minneapolis. For more information, call 612-302-3454, write mawa0302@yahoo.com, or visit www.mawanet.org.
Ahlam Hassan welcomes reader responses to hass0212@umn.edu.
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