Local girls learn to spread wings at ‘Project Butterfly’

Program pioneered by author emphasizes teens’ self respect

By Greg Hafkin

The Daily Northwestern

For most of her career, Niambi Jaha has helped women achieve empowerment and find purpose in their lives. A few years ago, she realized that girls could use her help as well.

“Our girls are in crisis. Our families are in crisis,” Jaha said to an audience of about 25 people at a community reception in her honor Friday night. “We need to do something different.”

In 2002, Jaha decided to write a book to help girls build their self-esteem as they make the transition to womanhood. Her book, “Project Butterfly,” evolved into a program at Fleetwood-Jourdain Community Center, 1655 Foster St., where seven girls meet weekly to discuss the issues they face in their lives and to build new life skills.

“The reason it’s called Project Butterfly is (to show) just how powerful and important transitions are,” Jaha said in her speech. “When you look at a caterpillar, you don’t say, ‘Wow, that’s a butterfly in the making.'”

Too many girls are at risk because they lack the knowledge to decide what is best for them, she said.

“There are so many things that are trying to take our girls out,” Jaha said. “We’ve got to strengthen them so they can make sound and right decisions.”

Jaha said that in modern society, girls have to deal with a multitude of negative influences. One day, she got a call from someone at a drug rehabilitation center that wanted her to design a program for the patients.

“These are girls that are in rehab and are 14 years old,” she said. “Can you envision that?”

One chapter in Jaha’s book is devoted to making girls understand the value of their names.

“Our girls are getting way too comfortable being called garden tools and farm animals,” she said. “Your name identifies you in the universe. It tells you what your place is.”

Jaha emphasized that girls need to take hold of their future to achieve success.

“Every caterpillar doesn’t make it to butterfly-hood,” she said. “It doesn’t work like that. Life doesn’t work like that.”

Girls need to listen to themselves to guide them through life, Jaha said. She called girls’ intuition a “guard dog,” given by God to “protect” them.

Project Butterfly participant Tiana Smith, 12, said she likes listening to the other girls’ ideas during the discussions.

“It’s a lot of fun to know about yourself and the future,” Smith said.

Twelve-year-old Elizabeth Granberry said Project Butterfly taught her, “how young men just look for other things than women — just sex and other things like that (instead of) getting to know them.”

The program allows the girls to talk candidly about issues important to them, said program supervisor Kimberly Jenkins.

“It’s always good to have extra support besides your parents,” Jenkins said. “When you’re at that age there’s a lot of problems you can’t talk to your parents about.”

Fleetwood-Jourdain program manager Betsy Jenkins, Kimberly’s mother, said Project Butterfly has greatly improved the girls’ confidence in themselves.

“It helps build your self-esteem,” Betsy Jenkins said. “There are some girls, just for the last four or five weeks, their whole demeanor has changed for the better.”