We Remember Sandy Hook Elementary

Friday’s horrific national tragedy -- the murder of 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut -- has ignited a new discussion on violence in America. In kitchens and coffee shops across the country, we tearfully debate the many faces of violence in America: gun culture, media violence and the lack of mental health services.  On behalf of our Executive Director, Board of Directors and Staff here at the YWCA Pasadena, we offer our prayers to the families, friends and others affected by this tragedy. We may never know or understand why this has happened, but it should serve as a lesson to us all to appreciate each day, continue to love one another and help one another during time of grief and pain.  We remember Sandy Hook Elementary…

From slum life to Disney film: Ugandan teen chess star 'the ultimate underdog...' Proof that dreams for young girls CAN come TRUE!!!

She grew up in one of the poorest spots on earth. She couldn't read or write. As a child, she scrounged for food each day for herself, her mother, and her brother.  But a chance encounter with a chess coach turned her into a rising international chess star, the subject of a book -- and the protagonist in a future Disney movie.

 

Ugandan teenager Phiona Mutesi is "the ultimate underdog," her biographer says.  Those who work with her believe she's 16. But since her birthday is unclear, she might still only be 15, they say.  Her father died from AIDS when Phiona was around 3.

 

"I thought the life I was living, that everyone was living that life," the teenager told CNN, describing her childhood in Katwe, a slum in the Ugandan capital of Kampala.

 

Robert Katende, a missionary and refugee of Uganda's civil war, had started a chess program in Katwe. He offered a bowl of porridge to any child who would show up and learn.  "It teaches you how to assess, how to make decisions, obstructive thinking, forecasts, endurance, problem solving, and looking at challenges as an opportunity in all cases -- and possibly not giving up," he told CNN. "The discipline, the patience ... anything to do with life, you can get it in that game."

 

Phiona did not become a top player overnight. But from the time she first showed up in 2005, her aptitude was clear.  Her talent is "extraordinary," said Katende.  Phiona liked chess, and started training and practicing regularly. "It took me like a year" to get very good, she said.  She walked about four miles a day to practice -- and to get that precious food.  Soon she found herself beating the older girls and boys in the program.

 

 

 

Phiona and her family faced pressure from some people in Uganda who insisted chess was a white man's game, or at least not something girls should be playing, according to her biographer, Tim Crothers.  But in her slum, so few people even knew what chess was that they didn't give her a hard time, Phiona told CNN.  Eventually, she became her country's champion -- and represented Uganda at international tournaments. In 2009, she traveled to Sudan. Then, in 2010, she boarded an airplane to Siberia.

 

Phiona is not one of the world's top chess players. But she is the first titled female Ugandan player. She has a fighter's instinct to reach the top level -- and to achieve much more."Chess gave me hope, whereby now I'm having a hope of becoming a doctor and ... a grand master," she said.  A grant from a program called Sports Outreach has allowed her to go back to school. She's learning to read and write.Meanwhile, Phiona is becoming an inspiration to people all over the world.

 

"That she's from Africa makes her an underdog in the world. The fact that she's from Uganda makes her sort of an underdog in Africa, because it's one of the poorer countries in Africa. The fact that she's in Katwe makes her an underdog in Uganda because it's the most impoverished slum in the entire country. And then to be a girl in Katwe -- girls are not treated as equals to the boys," said Crothers.

 

"Every hurdle that the world can place in front of her it has placed in front of her." The extreme poverty and deprivation in Katwe is hard for many around the world to imagine. Crothers wrote that "human waste from downtown Kampala is dumped directly into the slum. There is no sanitation."

 

Phiona wakes at 5 a.m. every morning to "begin a two-hour trek through Katwe to fill a jug with drinkable water, walking through lowland that is often so severely flooded by Uganda's torrential rains that many residents sleep in hammocks near their ceilings to avoid drowning," he wrote.

In the country of 34 million people, about one-fourth live below the poverty line, according to the CIA World Factbook. About three-quarters of the men in Uganda are literate; only 58% of women are.

 

As her world travels take off, she's in for more and more culture shock.  "I don't like New York because there's too much noise in it," the teenager said with a big smile.  But while it may be somewhat overwhelming for her, Phiona's success at the game she loves is bringing joy to her family.

"Some of them cried. Years back we didn't have hope that ... one day it can happen," she said. "So they are very excited."

Fall Trends that we LOVE!!!

I absolutely adore back-to-school time.  All the stores have sales. Boots are back, long sleeves are in, and holy moly do the sight of leggings and fall colors make me weak in the knees.  Because we don't have enough space to put all of our favorites, we thought we would highlight just a few of our favs.  All items are under $100 thus proving that looking good doesn't have to break the bank.  You won't be spending your whole allowance trying to keep up with this seasons latest trends.

Sweaters, jackets, scarves, oh my!!!  Check out these fall trends teens are rockin' this back-to-school season:

HELP!!! My parents don't approve of my friends!!!

What do you do when you really like your friend...but your parents really don't? It's a tricky situation—on one hand, your parents want the best for you, and they're only trying to look out for you. On the other hand, they don't know your friend as well as you do.

Maybe your parents have pointed out that your friend didn't thank them when they took you both out to eat, or that her grades aren't the best. Those things may be true, but they don’t necessarily mean she's a bad person. Nobody's perfect, after all. In that case, let your parents know that you're aware of her faults. Then, tell them about her strengths. Why do you like hanging out with her? Your parents want you to be happy, so if they see that your friend makes you happy, they're more likely to feel positively towards her and give her another chance.

Have your parents ever said they didn’t like one of your friends? What did you do?

Election 2012

Congratulations to President Obama on being elected to his second term as President of the United States. Now that the election is over, you may wonder what all of the fuss was about.  Here is a breakdown of what both candidates were promising if elected to be POTUS (President of the United States).  If you could have voted for President, who would you have choose? 

President Obama, the Democratic candidate, promised to:

• Invest in education, small businesses, clean energy, infrastructure, and tax cuts for companies that bring jobs back to the U.S.
• Cut taxes for the typical middle class family.
• Develop every available source of American-made energy—including oil, gas, clean coal, wind, solar, biofuels, nuclear - and take steps to protect our climate.
• Cut college tuition costs and make financial help available to more students.
• Improve Medicare to help more senior citizens get medical care.
• Help immigrants who want to become citizens.

Mitt Romney, the Republican candidate promised to:

• Make the United States less dependent on foreign energy sources by increasing access to U.S. sources of oil, gas and coal.
• Give every family access to great schools and teachers.
• Provide access to affordable higher education. 
• Focus on job training programs that will make it easier for people to get good jobs.
• Lower the deficit by cutting federal programs other than the military.
• Replace Obama's health care law with his own health care program.

If you could have voted for president, who would you have voted for?

Fighting Childhood Obesity

Research shows that a staggering percentage of young people suffer learning-loss and acquire unhealthy eating habits during summer break. Young people can lose more than two months of progress in reading achievement over the summer, 1 out of 3 children in the United States are overweight or obese, and millions of youth go without healthy, nutritious meals over the summer months.

As the school year comes to an end, it’s often assumed that weight gain will not be a concern with the warm summer weather enticing children to get outside and play. In actuality, weight gain is greater in the summer than during the school year. Why? Without the structure that school provides, many children have time to lounge around and raid the fridge and cupboards while parents are at work.

With childhood obesity on the rise, summertime is the perfect opportunity for parents to keep children active and eating healthy. Here are five simple ways to combat childhood obesity in your home during long summer days:

           Assess the snacks in your fridge and cupboards. Throw out unhealthy snacking options and replace them with ready-to-eat fruits and vegetable to make it easier for children to make good choices.

       Have children join you on grocery trips so you can look at healthy options together.

            Go on family walks after dinner.

       Encourage your child to be more active throughout the day by setting small goals or challenges.

       For example, set challenges like, “how many stairs can you take today?”

             Don’t completely eliminate treats. Instead, set limits such as only one cookie rather than a whole plate.

Implementing simple, concrete goals is the most effective way for parents and their children to adopt healthier lifestyles and survive the warm summer months without experiencing a setback in their health and wellness. 

The YWCA Pasadena is proud to announce the line-up for this year's annual Week Without Violence 2012...

For additional information about the YWCA Pasadena and our programs or events related to the Week Without Violence, please feel free to contact our office at 626-296-8433.