During July 23-27 the first-ever, young women’s, sisterhood rising retreat, took place at the University of California Santa Barbara. About 40 young ladies from 14 different Building Healthy Communities (BHC) sites met up.
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| University of California Santa Barbara |
Arriving at UC Santa Barbara, I was very excited for various
reasons. Meeting new people, having the opportunity to get a feel of what it is
like to dorm like a college student, and knowing I was going to have a lot of
fun.
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One of the first activities that we did was the special item
sister circle. Only the person holding the talking piece was allowed to speak.
We went around the circle following one of our rules, which was always passing
the talking piece to the left. A rule we followed because our heart is on the
left and every word we spoke came from our heart. Everyone had the opportunity
to introduce themselves, their preferred gender pronoun, and the story behind
the object they had brought. The first sister circle was filled with so many
emotions; smiles, laughter, tears and formed the start of an amazing bond. It
was the beginning of our sisterhood bond. It created trust, a space where we
felt comfortable, and safe to speak knowing people were listening.
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| First Sisterhood Rising Circle. |
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| Special items/ objects. |
Throughout the week we had the opportunity to get to know
each other, dine together, play games and do numerous of fun activities. From
rock climbing, swimming, volleyball, surfing, kayaking and many more! I had a
lot of fun doing all these activities, some of them for the first time. I
remember doing one of the obstacle courses and feeling a bit nervous while
looking down and seeing the distance from where I was and the ground. It made me feel a little uneasy, but as I
heard the cheers motivating me, saying I could do It, I felt like I had to go
on. When I finally rang the bell signaling that I was done, I felt accomplished
and it was a really great feeling knowing that I didn't give up.
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| Kayaking |
We also did group activities where we were able to discuss
issues in our own community and then share them out with everyone else. We
found out that we had many of the issues in common and we were going through
some of the same things. We were all being affected by these issues even though
we were from different cities. Some of them were teen pregnancy, not having
enough counseling in schools, and living in a food desert. Knowing this we were
able to talk about more personal issues and how we are affected as women and we
noticed that we shared many of the same issues as well. It was great to be
surrounded by all these women and girls that were very much like me and wanted
to make a difference in their communities.
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| Sacramento |
One of the important things that I
learned from this retreat was that in order to be a leader, and to be the type
of person who can truly stand up to make a difference in what you believe in
you have to start with yourself. A good leader is a person who can take care of
themselves before they can take care of others. Being a leader is not a person
who wants to dominate or completely take over, but a person who want to guide
and inspire others. A good leader is not is also a good follower a person that
can step down and let others speak up when the time is necessary.
Overall the experience was amazing; on the last day we all
received a bracelet that was handmade. It serves as a reminder of all the
amazing ladies I met during the sisterhood retreat. Having to say goodbye made
me a little sad, but I also felt like I would be returning home as a different
person and I'm sure many of the other girls shared a mutual feeling.
