The Tribune

By ALESHA CADET

Tribune Features Reporter

acadet@tribunemedia.net

CONTINUING with its mission to transform the lives of young Bahamian women, the Sapphire International Girls Club (SIGC) will host a etiquette and personal development workshop on May 24.

The workshop will take place at the Cultural Arts Institute and Resource Centre on Farrington Road, from 9am to 3pm.

The SIGC is a non-profit organisation launched out of a desire to mentor young ladies morally and spiritually, specifically those between the ages of 12 and 25.

Members of the organisation host workshops, summer camps, as well as conferences with educational training in subjects such as Christian education; social and dining etiquette; public speaking; poise and posture; makeup artistry; physical wellness; self-esteem and sex education.

Cheryl Knowles, founder of the SIGC, said the club was created to enrich the spiritual and physical lives of young women through mentorship programmes, with the expectation of their hearts and minds being renewed in the will of Jesus Christ.

She joining SIGC is free of charge, and the club meets twice a month at the Cultural Arts Institute and Resource Centre from 12noon to 2pm.

“Without organisations like SIGC, that has caring, responsible mentors, teaching our young women their true value, teaching them that their creator should be their first love and showing them that they are loved no matter how they see themselves in the mirror, or even just to extend love to them in such simple yet honourable ways, then we will have a country filled with selfish, disrespectful women who are only living to please themselves with a careless attitude towards others,” Ms Knowles said.

“As the Bible admonishes us to love others as we love ourselves, SIGC teaches the same.”

The upcoming workshop, she said, came about after she come across several young women in need of etiquette assistance.

“I have attended functions and there are also some adults that do not know how to simply use dining utensils or sit correctly at a table. I realised that what I’ve been taught as a young woman, that same standard has somewhat left and needs to come back in our society. I felt my journey growing up as young lady wasn’t the easiest in my view, but now looking back I can say that all the given curfews, no makeup until age 17 and all the other strict polices of the house were really to help steer me in the right path. Years later after taking a look back at where I came from, it was an inspiration to me to take matters into my own hands and create a workshop specifically designed for etiquette and personal development to assist our now generation and future leaders,” said Ms Knowles.

She said it is uplifting when a person’s own past can be an inspiration, as her background growing up in a single-parent home with a very supportive mother, Dianna Knowles, has been inspirational to her.

Every venture she has ever decided to take on, Ms Knowles said her mother stood with her and was her tower of strength.

After successfully becoming a certified Bridal Consultant and Wedding Planner, Ms Knowles said she decided to give it all back to women here in the Bahamas. “ My desire is for people in general to realise their present state doesn’t determine their future. I inspire myself each day by waking up and knowing that it wasn’t my academics that got me where I am, but it was in knowing who’s I am,” said Ms Knowles.

She said this month’s workshop will consist of activities such as hands-on makeup, modelling and formal dining etiquette classes, as well as Christian and sex education and public speaking.

“I want to see each student leave with not only learning something new, but leave with the knowledge of knowing who they are. Each participant can look forward to a fulfilled day of intense learning, eating some of the best Bahamian-made foods, meeting new friends and enjoying who they are in a comfortable environment and leave feeling loved,” she said.

Ms Knowles said she chose to target young ladies between the ages of 12 and 25 because that age bracket is what she calls the “defining my life” stage.

“Parents will tell you that is the most difficult age bracket they’ve ever experienced, and SIGC wants to assist parents in this, letting them know they are not alone. We were all once children and young adults, and it’s up to us older ones to teach the younger generation,” Ms Knowles said.

“Between the ages of 12 and 25 is when a woman needs her father most. My father wasn’t there for me, but growing up, my mother and other spiritual mothers taught me how to rely on Jesus. They said, ‘If ya mummy or ya grammy een gat it, ya do without’. I want to teach this age bracket of girls that same method that God is everything they need Him to be,” said Ms Knowles.

For more information, contact the SIGC at 322-8866, 558-8909, or e-mail sapphiregclub@gmail.com.