By Karungari Nduba

On Friday, July 21, 2023 the Peer Educators and Counselors Club (PECC) had an opportunity to take part in a mentorship collaboration with Nova Pioneer Girls Secondary School. The main objective for the Club was to share with the students messages of hope and resilience. Those in attendance were able to do this by providing a space where the students at Nova could talk about some of the mental challenges they are facing. The team that went was made up of a total of 34 people; 30 PECC members alongside 3 practicum students from the counseling center and the Club Patron Ms. Lydia Winda who joined us in the groups and professional counsel on sensitive issues that came up during the group interactions.
On arrival at the school, amidst a few nerves mixed with excitement the entire team from PECC was split into pairs and each pair went and engaged a class in icebreakers and then delved deep into talking about mental health related topics.

We were able to go to all 16 classes from form 1-4 and interact with their student population of about 400 girls. Some of the topics that were addressed during our time there revolved around suicide triggers, family related stresses, academic pressures, post high school anxiety, hopelessness and rejection just to name a few.

A good surprise that the team faced even amidst the nervousness was that all the students were so receptive and engaging to what was being talked about with a lot of them opening up about some of their own struggles. After having the sessions in the pairs, we were then offered some refreshments and were able to continue bonding with the students over laughter, one on one and small group interactions and real life stories. Our main objective of passing on a message of hope and resilience was further cemented through these interactions and the one-on-one conversations we were able to have during this time.

Although the time felt short, it was an impactful visit with positive feedback from both the PECC and the Nova Pioneer teams. We look forward to continuing this collaboration with this school and to what the future has in store for PECC even beyond this.