The Vanuatu Cricket Association runs a life skills and physical program bringing together women from the various communities that are part of the Women’s Island Cricket Program (WICP).
The Vanuatu Cricket Association says the purpose of the program is to give women the opportunity to learn different sets of life skills and to experience different types of physical activities besides cricket.
The association says the life skills training aims to provide women with skills that can help them earn a living while the physical training keep things interesting, encourages the women’s competitive side and maintains their interest in keeping fit and healthy.
The life skills and physical training programs are coupled with a regular health check up to ensure that the women are maintaining their overall health and are fighting non-communicable diseases, such as obesity.
The Vanuatu Cricket Association’s Women’s Island Cricket Program Officer, Lucien Tulangi, says the program is successful.
“The program has broadened the skill set of the participants which means that, they now have another ways to maintain and sustain their families financially and health wise,” she said.
“It is also an important program because the women were given the opportunity to learn new life skills that can help them not just economically but also in other aspects of life and it encourages them to stay fit and maintain a healthy lifestyle.
“It is the Vanuatu Cricket Association’s goal to developing our participants at every level because we want them to have sustainable and healthy lives. We hope that in doing that, they will in turn influence other members of their communities to do the same,” said Ms Tulangi.
Over 80 women from Blacksands, Eratap, Imaki, Ifira and Beverly Hills and a few from the staff of the cricket association have participated in the program.
The women joined classes and sessions including: sewing, painting, aqua exercise, gym and Zumba which were facilitated by the Wan Smol Bag community group. The classes were included based on the interests of women who have participated in the past.