Valentina - The Poet

By Jannick Peters

Today, we visited a school for girls which included a church and housing. The main reason the facilities exist is to protect girls from acts of violence such as child marriage, FGM, rape, and murder. Even though they have come from terrible situations, the girls are happy and bright, but a bit shy. 

I connected with one girl in particular, named Valentina. Valentina is 16 like me, and walks with a confidence that is not common with these girls — which is probably due to all they have gone through. She was very interested in my story, and very open to sharing about herself. Even after a few small interactions, I can tell that we would be very good friends if we lived in the same place. She is interested in the arts like me, and especially enjoys poetry. She recited a poem called “The English Language” that was witty yet powerful. It discussed the difficulties of learning the language when so many words have multiple meanings that are completely different, like copper, which she explained can be a rude word for a policeman, or a pan in the kitchen. I left the school wishing that I had spoken to her longer. 

On the bus ride home, once again I thought about my privilege. I have so many opportunities for success and oftentimes I take it for granted. Valentina, like so many of the kids we have met in our journey so far, has the will and desire to work hard, yet has all this weight on her back, keeping her down. Not only that, there is not very much in place to help them climb the staircase to success and true freedom, which for them has steps that are 10 feet tall.

This lead to me thinking how I could help. The first thing that came to my mind, was the no-brainer, money. Yet I’m a bit skeptical about that method of help. How much of the money will actually get to the people who need it? And when they do get the money, who is responsible for putting toward the things that they need? In the grand scheme of things, I’m not sure that money is the solution to these problems; I believe they are much more complicated than that. These young ladies need a support structure. Many, if not all of them, do not have families, which is undoubtedly extremely valuable. For a lot of the them, after high school, it is quite unlikely that they will continue on to university. Under all of this, they have all these issues that they have dealt with or are dealing with, that surely have an impact on their mental health which directly and adversely affects their success.

Again, this shows me that drama is extremely valuable to their well-being. I’m glad to be a part of this Necessary Arts experience in providing them with that support, and I hope in the coming months I can think of and implement ideas to help all of these well deserving young ladies out in meaningful ways all the way from Chennai.