The young, determined members of the Saba Girls Run march on with their plans for a fundraising carwash and barbeque event, to support their goal of taking a group daytrip to a neighbouring island. The fundraising event will be held at the campus parking lot of Saba University School of Medicine (SUSOM), this Saturday from 11:00am to 2:00pm.
The fundraising was first delayed due to new, strictly enforced regulations on public event permits, and was further challenged by a lack of water at Juliana’s Sports Field, where the event had initially been planned. Neither challenge deterred the young girls from selling fundraising tickets, arming themselves with buckets, sponger and vacuum cleaners to earn their trip. The Saba community is invited to bring their cars and to show their support, purchasing tickets and snacks during the event.
The Saba Girls Run is a youth initiative that has grown organically since last year, when several Saba girls approached female medical students, complimenting them on their workouts. The SUSOM Women Medical Students Association took on its big sister mentoring role and promised to train the Saba girls on the SUSOM campus, every Saturday morning, for as long as the girls showed commitment. To everyone’s surprise, the group kept all sessions irrespective of major events on the island and regardless of university exams or school schedules. The medical students noticed that the Saba girls did not have proper training shoes. They used the allocated budget of the Women Medical Students Association to purchase shoes for the girls. Even other medical student associations pitched in financially. An outgrowth of this successful youth initiative is the association with the AIDS Support Group Foundation, which supported the youth initiative by incorporating it into the Saba Girl Power programme.
Source: “The Daily Herald” 2012-03-30