St. Louis Dance Instructor Spends Summer
Helping Young Women
from across Missouri Find a New Rhythm
St. Louis, Mo. (August 21, 2008) – As the weather starts to cool and children return to school, the question inevitably arises, “How did you spend your summer?” DeBorah Ahmed, dance instructor and founder of Better Family Life Inc., spent part of her summer teaching dance – and a whole lot more – to young women of Missouri through the Changing Prisms program. Boys & Girls Town of Missouri created and hosts the Changing Prisms program which gives an over-looked population of troubled young women, who rarely receive special treatment, the chance to interact with successful adult women typically inaccessible in their tumultuous lives. The two-day event took - this June.
“Changing Prisms is a weekend that intensely focuses on the well being of some of the most beautiful and inspiring young women I have ever met” said Judy Hillyer, major gifts officer for Boys & Girls Town and the woman behind the idea. “I had a dream for a weekend where the young women we treat at Boys & Girls Town could engage in a weekend of self-discovery, walking along with successful women of the community.”
In 2002, Boys & Girls Town of Missouri launched the Changing Prisms workshop to focuses on the recovery issues of young women who have suffered from abuse and/or neglect. At the time, neither the agency nor the children’s social service field, had any specific exercise such as this one for young women in their teens. The program takes place each summer at the St. James campus and brings together young women, ages 12-17 from Boys & Girls Town’s four campuses. Walking along side with the participants throughout the weekend are women who have had similar experiences as the girls attending the workshop, as well as successful women who are well respected in the community and who offer unique training and perspective in the area of fine arts, such as DeBorah Ahmed.
“Volunteering with Changing Prisms always touches me,” said Ahmed, who teaches dance at Changing Prisms each year. “The young ladies who attend let down those thick walls they’ve built around themselves and allow their lives to be touched and moved by all that Changing Prisms is.”
Ahmed takes her role of incorporating fine arts into the weekend very seriously. She teaches dance to the participants as an entire group as an ice breaker to kick off the workshop, and then in smaller groups throughout the weekend. At the end of the program, participants are encouraged to perform the dance at the closing program. She does more than teach dance. Through her instruction, she the girls’ reach beyond their comfort zones and experience and aid internalization of empowering messages regarding self worth and self determination.
The Changing Prisms program helps each young woman understand that they are capable of achieving a healthy, successful life. Volunteers and mentors are called upon to listen to the stories of the girls, and share their own personal experiences. By mentors sharing part of their lives with participants, it allows the girls to see that although each of the mentors may hold significant status in their lives and communities, they are basically women who also have faced difficulties, dreams and challenges.
Feedback from mentors and volunteers with Changing Prisms indicates they believe they receive far more from the weekend than the young women participants. Most everyone involved in the program walks away a different person. The girls learn that their dreams can become a reality and the mentors learn what it means to be courageous and strong. “I got involved instructing dance at Changing Prisms to help these young girls see how artists use their creative gifts to move and inspire others,” said Ahmed. “The girls help me keep my life and blessings in perspective. I believe and hope that I can help the girls move their lives to a higher, more productive and positive level. I have met women who have survived and thrived through challenges, these girls are extremely special. They are survivors.” |
Columbia Region
