Lending a hand towards change
Lending a helping hand has always been a quality in Chamathya Fernando’s (24) family and this is a trait that she carries with her to this day. This has always been her passion, and seeing the impact that it’s had on people’s lives, brings her happiness and satisfaction.
Earlier this month, Chamathya was selected to be among the top ten youth to be recognized as a Global Emerging Young Leader by the United States Department of State.
The programme selects ten individuals between the ages 18 and 25, from around the world for their courage in resolving conflict, promoting security, and creating economic opportunity in challenging environments. Chamathya was recognized for her work in empowering women and girls on gender based violence.
During her school days at Visakha Vidyalaya, Chamathya was both a junior and a senior prefect, she recalls. Aside from this and her studies, she also engaged in a lot of extracurricular activities, out of which her favourite was being a ‘little friend’ and eventually a girl guide.
This got her involved in various community service projects and volunteer work. In 2010, Chamathya, went on to achieve the President’s award, which is the highest award in girl guiding.
In March 2013, soon after her Advanced Level exams, she was selected by the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS), to represent Sri Lanka in the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) at the United Nations headquarters in New York.
Aside from the training in advocacy and policy work, which she was given there, Chamathya was also asked to initiate her own projects in Sri Lanka. The delegates were trained on an educational curriculum, called ‘Stop the Violence campaign’, which was co-developed by WAGGGS.
Chamathya Fernando
Chamathya was soon to get back home and coordinate this campaign through the Sri Lanka Girl Guides Association (SLGGA). Fortunately she had the support of all the seniors in the Girl Guides, who helped her tremendously, she tells us.
“Sometimes you have to work hard and put in that extra effort to start something off,” she explains. This is just what she did. Chamathya travelled to places like Ratnapura and Peradeniya, conducting various workshops on gender equality and gender based violence. Her work was soon recognized by WAGGGS, which gave her a grant. With this, Chamathya was able to expand the project.
“To me my biggest achievement is my team that is working on the campaign. All of us have that good coordination and understanding,” she tells us adding that it’s not easy since everybody is involved in other activities. But because of that collaboration as a team, they are able to do better projects and provide a service to the community.
Chamathya strongly believes that the main problem in terms of gender based violence, sexual reproductive health and rights, is the lack of awareness. She and her team do their best to educate people and create awareness. Together, since 2013, they’ve reached out to around 10,000 boys and girls across the country.
According to her, one wouldn’t find enough information on the subject through a school curriculum. Furthermore, the topic ‘sex’ is taboo and there’s a stigma attached to it. “Our curriculum (stop the violence campaign) was piloted in many of the member organizations and it has had an impact on people’s minds,” she explains adding that it is an age appropriate, right based curriculum. What it does is basically give people an understanding of what their rights are and why it’s important to speak up etc.With the support of the SLGGA, they currently have 65 adult leaders, delivering the curriculum in all nine provinces. They, however, hope to expand these leaders, in the future, so that they could reach out to more young people
At present Chamathya and her team face two major challenges. “People say you have poverty, you have healthcare, nutrition and education issues, so why do you make a big deal, of gender equality and gender-based violence? Owing to the stigma and the culture we live in, we don’t really speak out. So it’s important to create awareness and educate children,” Chamathya explains.