Members recently invited Megan Schlanker (18 years) a Senior Section Guide from Stourbridge, to join them in their business meeting.

Megan told them about her training that she had received in West Sussex from Dove and WAGGS which enabled her to become a peer educator.

As a ‘4 Peer Educator’ she is able to run sessions with Brownies and Guides, focusing on topics such as healthy relationships, body confidence and healthy lifestyles. One of the programmes that she runs is Free Being Me, which helps to combat self-esteem issues in young girls aged 7 to 14 years. A survey launched by Dove in 2010 showed that 6 out of 10 girls stop taking part in activities that they love because they were worried about how they look. Free Being Me is a programme created by WAGGS and Dove to show girls that they do not have to look a certain way. Megan was able to advise how working as a peer with girls provides a different perspective for them. She was also able to give us an example of an 8 year old that she worked with who thought that adverts were real and not actors playing a part.

In August this year Megan is travelling on her own, to a Free Being Me festival at the Sangam World Centre in India where she will run her peer sessions with local children, all this in the middle of completing her university applications. Megan is fundraising for this trip by selling handmade cards and selling raffle tickets.

She is also asking people to sponsor her to run the walking distance from Birmingham to Haarlem, 322 miles in total.

If you would like to support Megan in this vital work you can do this with contact with Soroptimist International Stourbridge via their web site or by telephoning Jane Flint Bridgewater on 01384 397565 Soroptimist International Stourbridge and District meets on the first and third Wednesday of the month @ Hagley Golf and Country Club and would welcome new members.