By Shelby Brooks
Tempest Alphonse has developed a program to help steer the young South Sudanese women down a positive path.
Concerned at the number of South Sudanese girls entering the justice system, the youth worker from the Centre for Multicultural Youth created the My Sister’s Keeper (MSK) program designed to empower girls aged 15-19 from the South Sudanese community build connections, make positive life choices and contribute positively to the community.
MSK will be run out of My Place Youth Centre Pakenham for girls across the wider South East.
Tempest engaged young girls from the South Sudanese community, as well as their parents, to work out how to best deliver the program.
“Pre-Covid-19, we had an over representation of girls from the South Sudanese community entering the justice system,” she said.
“In the South Sudanese community, older girls look after the younger siblings and help out the mothers a lot in the households.
“The concept of My Sister’s Keeper is to have that older female mentor for these young girls; a sister they can relate to. We’ve been through what they’ve been through and hopefully we can help them see there are other ways of dealing with things.”
The program will see the mentor and mentee participate in activities and outings as well as skills based learning like budgeting, cooking and leadership.
“We want them to see if they are directed in another path, their lives are really going to be successful,” Tempest said.
“If there are people supporting them and activities to keep them busy, maybe even if they get work as well, they can really have a fruitful life.
“They have the heart but situations can be challenging.”
MSK will begin in March this year.
For more information, head to cmy.net.au.
