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What
issues do you struggle with? Has mentoring
helped? - share here |
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ALOVE
interviews founder of girl’s mentoring
group ‘anya’ to find out what
it’s all about and how we can get involved
...
Can you let us know a bit about anya and how
it came about?
Anya started because a group of girls started
to talk about our own insecurities, about
the lack of women in leadership, the need
for more support and the desire to share our
experiences as girls. As we started talking,
we realised that the issues we struggled with
on a daily basis were the same issues that
every girl we knew struggled with! We also
discovered that through our conversations
with each other we began to find the support
that we needed. As each of us started to get
more intentional in our own lives about supporting
each other, we also wanted to encourage other
people to start doing something about it,
so anya was birthed!
Why is mentoring
important?
Mentoring is important because it is essentially
about one person sharing life with another
person on a very honest and open level. It
enables hurt, joy, struggles, pain, growth
and challenges to be shared, and for emotions
to be aired and worked through before they
get stuffed down, with a liability to come
back and bite us in years to come. It gives
an opportunity for life lessons and wisdom
to be shared down the generations, and for
friendships of support and accountability
to be formed.
Can you tell us
about your own mentoring experiences? How
have they helped you in your life as a Christian?
I have been one of the few fortunate girls
I know that has been almost consistently mentored
by different women from the time I was 14.
One of my mentors when I was 16 -19 years
old was a woman named Laura. She was a friend,
a listening ear, a guidance counselor, a careers
advisor, a pastor, a teacher, a cook (a very
good one), and a role model just to name a
few! I could go to her house when I needed
to and just feel at home; if I was upset I
could call her and she would pray for me over
the phone; when I was making decisions that
weren’t healthy for me she would tell
me so; she would ask me the questions that
made me think about my life. Even now, although
I live in a different country and it’s
5 years later, I can still go back and have
heart-to-heart, challenging conversations
with her. In my Christian life all of my mentors
have helped me by speaking God’s truth
about who I am to me, by encouraging me to
step into new scary experiences, and by challenging
me to continue to pursue God and a life that
reflects Jesus.
I’ve also had the experience of being
able to mentor other girls, which is scary
but incredibly fulfilling. In doing so I’ve
learnt so much from their willingness to learn,
ability to jump into life and the courage
they have had in facing all the challenges
in their own lives.
What
are the 'pockets of inspiration and accountability'
you talk about on your site?
We call these the anya pockets. They exist
around the UK, and each one is unique. A pocket
can be a group of girls meeting once of month
just to chat and support each other; it can
be a girls cell group meeting weekly; it can
be a girl being mentored by another girl;
it can be an accountability group; it can
be a girl running a pampering day for her
friends just to tell them they are beautiful.
A pocket usually, by its very nature, will
involve some sort of mentoring as it is essentially
girls investing in other girls. The unifying
factor between the pockets is that they subscribe
to the anya vision statement: “To see
women released to live in and live out God’s
truth, freedom & love”. I think
sometimes it’s easy for us to try and
create a program or give a specific structure
to a ministry, but we feel that with anya
it is essential that we don’t do this,
and that we allow pockets to form which meet
the needs of the girls in their locality.
How can young
people go about being mentored?
There are many different ways. My best advice
is to start by praying about it. Ask God if
there is anyone around you that you could
ask to get involved in mentoring you. There
may already be someone who is investing in
you, if it would help, ask them if they can
make a commitment to meet up with you on a
bi-weekly or monthly basis. Look for someone
that you respect and trust, and don’t
be afraid to ask. Even if they are not able
to commit to mentoring you it is always a
compliment to be asked. Remember as well that
your mentor doesn’t have to be perfect
or have all the answers, they just have to
be someone that is committed to following
God and learning as they go along, and someone
that is able to listen. It may be helpful
to state what your expectations of the mentoring
relationship are, for example that you want
to meet on a monthly basis, for the next year,
to have a chance to talk through what is going
on in your life and to be held accountable
in certain areas. At the same time mentoring
doesn’t have to be a formal agreement,
I have had a number of mentors and in none
of those relationships did either of us ever
make the nature of the relationship official,
they just happened and evolved naturally.
When women made themselves available to me
I took them up on their offer. If there is
no one that you feel you could ask to mentor
you, approach your church leader to see if
they have any ideas, or keep praying that
God will provide someone, and keep an eye
out!
How
can ALOVE readers get involved with anya?
The first step is to log on to our website
www.anyanetwork.org
and to sign up for our bi-monthly e-newsletter.
If you are involved in supporting girls in
any capacity, if you would like to start an
anya pocket, or if you would like us to try
and hook you up with an anya pocket in your
local area please email us at anyagirls@yahoo.com.
We would love to hear from you! |
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Youthwork -
The Partnership ...
ALOVE,
Youthwork Magazine, Youth For Christ, Spring Harvest and
Oasis are working together to equip and resource the Church
for effective youth work and ministry. |
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