The 2009 Ottawa Roundtable

Hey guys I'm Adiba and I'd like to share with you my expericnce at the roundtable in Ottawa last month.

There were three girls from the Toronto GIils Speakers Bureau who were lucky enough to attend this exciting event - I was one of those lucky perticipants. It was our first time at an event such as the Roundtable since we are such a new and developing group of young women and girls.

We had a great time and learned a lot from the experience during our time spent in Ottawa. We made new friends, got to meet and talk with a lots of different people from across Canda and were even able to give some input into the on going conversation in the conference.

The conference was held by Plan Canada and was geered towards the 2009 'because I am a girl' report that had just recently came out a couple months ago which talks about the state of our girls golbally. The report, ( that will run until 2015) follows the lives of specific girls around the world from brith to the age of 9. The dissucsion were focoused on the 3 major parts of a girls life.

The early years. (ages 0-5)

The Middle years. (12-17)

And the working years. (18-24)

We were able to hear the statements of professional girl speicalists from across Canada and were all honoured to be able to be there live in person for this event.

We are hoping to see another Roundtable in the coming year and this time a larger group of girls may be able to attend. With this new knowledge and expeirence we hope that it will come in handy in the distant future and that we can use what we have learned and our experience to further our leadership and passion through the Girl's Speaker's Bureau and reach all those underestimated girls out there.

Beacuase I am a girl I believe that one day the world will see my worth, along with all the other girls across the globe.