Teen Girls Gather in Malawi to Advance Science, Tech Skills

Teen Girls Gather in Malawi to Advance Science, Tech Skills

A hundred teenage girls from seven countries are gathered the Malawi University of Science and Technology in the country's Thyolo district for a Women in Science camp.

Experts from Intel Corp. and Google are teaching the girls — from Rwanda, Uganda, Liberia, Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi and the U.S. — to develop mobile phone apps. It's one of several lessons offered at the two-week camp, which runs through August 14.

The hope is that these teens will go on to pursue studies and careers in science, technology, engineering, arts and math, also known as STEAM fields.

"We want is every girl who participates in this camp to walk away with the knowledge and the confidence that if they want to develop computer applications, they absolutely can," instructor¹ Lisa Mcintye said. "We are giving them building blocks and access to start doing that."

The camp was made possible by the U.N.'s Girl Up campaign, U.S.-based Intel and the U.S. Department of State.

Time for change

"Those fields everywhere — in my country, the United States, here in Malawi and many countries around the world — tend to be dominated² by men. It's time for that to change," said Edward J. Monster, public affairs officer of the U.S. Embassy³ in Malawi.

Role models were invited to share their experiences with the campers. The guests included former American astronaut Leland Melvin and Malawi's only two female pilots, Captain Yolanda Kaunda and First Officer Lusekelo Mwenifumbo.

"I was undermined⁴ as a girl, that probably I could not do the job, or I couldn't do it as good as a man," said Lusekelo Mwenifumbo, a pilot for Malawian Airlines. "But the training is the same for a man and a woman. That's why we are called pilots, not pilotesses."

'Really inspiring'

"Those guys are really inspiring people," said Chimwemwe Chiweza, one of the campers from Malawi. "And I learned that all of them are doing very important things, and they are in male-dominated fields, and that, actually, they made it possible."

"What I have learned is that since I need to work in a STEAM field, I need to work hard for it and I will achieve it, even if I am a girl," said camper Clarisse Ilibagiza Umulis of Rwanda.

Organizers say more is expected from the girls after the camp.

"These girls will go home and change their communities," said Bailey Leuschen of the U.N. Girl Up campaign. "They [are going to] bring this knowledge back to their schools. They [are going to] start Girl Up clubs and they [are going to] be the leaders in science, technology, engineering, arts and math."

STEAM camps have also been held in Rwanda and Peru since 2015. In all, about 300 teenage girls have participated.

1 instructor   

n.指导者，教员，教练

参考例句：

• The college jumped him from instructor to full professor.大学突然把他从讲师提升为正教授。
• The skiing instructor was a tall,sunburnt man.滑雪教练是一个高高个子晒得黑黑的男子。

2 dominated   

受控的 -tive

参考例句：

• As a child he was dominated by his father. 他小时候由父亲主宰一切。
• His personality dominated over the other members of the committee. 他的人格影响委员会的其他成员。

3 embassy   

n.大使馆，大使及其随员

参考例句：

• Large crowd demonstrated outside the British Embassy.很多群众在英国大使馆外面示威。
• He's a U.S. diplomat assigned to the embassy in London.他是美国驻伦敦大使馆的一名外交官。

4 undermined   

潜行的

参考例句：

• Our confidence in the team has been seriously undermined by their recent defeats. 该队最近的几次失败已严重动摇了我们对他们的信心。
• Her unwillingness to answer questions undermined the strength of her position. 她不愿回答问题，这不利于她所处的形势。