The Girls' Reform School

The Girls’ Reform School

I got the opportunity to view the Girls’ Reform School on the Industrial Children’s Home complex on Thursday, but there was little to report. Unlike the Boys’ Remand Home, the Girl’s Reform School is not a temporary confinement. The girls at the Reform School have already been sentenced and it is here that they serve their time, normally for a few years of rehabilitation and vocational training.

Because we were just orienting ourselves to the agency, we participated in the girls’ activities with them. I especially enjoyed learning how to make bread. It was so relaxing. The tasks of cooking always slow me down, causing me to be more present in the moment, to utilize all my senses. At first the girls snickered at my kneading, but I eventually got right. I felt a real sense of satisfaction, despite the simplicity of the task. For the rest of our day, we interacted with the girls as best we could (language barriers were a serious issue) through playing games with them.

They only had two games. One seemed to be an extra large checkerboard, and the other seemed to be mancala- but of course, it was not to be so straightforward. The checker board game was actually called “gum” and had many different rules, although the main aims were the same. The mancala-like game was not given a name and the rules were completely different. We had a good laugh over my attempts to learn the “new” rules.

We spent the last few hours of our day at the Girls' Reform School sitting in chairs and watching the girls practice manicures and pedicures, as a part of their vocational training. They also have vocational training in catering, dressmaking, and even plumbing! It is fantastic that the girls have the opportunity to learn a vocation while serving their time, since it seems to me that the majority of their crimes were motivated directly by poverty.

However, while watching the girls work, the nail technician who was teaching the girls had a four year old son who kept hitting everyone. I tried to entertain him so that he would stop, but he was very hyper and he seemed to know that his mother was preoccupied. By the time this small boy began to scratch me on purpose with his long nails, I was basically over the experience. The child was out of control (he told me he had “pleeenti brodas” with whom he practiced wrestling at home). But I get the impression that parents have a cultural expectation that others should discipline their children if they misbehave towards you. I am not comfortable with that- especially because the discipline here is normally physical.

All in all, I did not feel that I had contributed much as a social worker because of the language barrier and because of the vocational nature of the school. The girls are meant to be kept busy throughout the day with their vocational training, none of which I know anything about. Very little academic education occurs. And, based on the case files I read, the “counseling” sessions seem to consist of reminding the girls to behave upon their return home. Although I enjoyed my time at the Girls’ Reform School, I knew this was not meant to be my final placement.