[waves crashing against shore]
[speaking in Solomon Islands Pidgin]: My name is Diana Ma'ahoro.
I'm from Solomon [Islands], Mailata province.
I am a disability woman.
When I grow up, my mom is a nurse so she understands my disability
and she put me in school at Red Cross School.
So I have reached grade five.
[children's song plays from radio]
When I was young, they told me to work hard, not to get married because I have a
disability and need to work hard to have money to support me when I grow older.
I don't have a good education so how can I get a job to support me?
But then I heard about the program, the Girls Rise Up program,
from some of my friends.
[waves crashing against shore]
Diana Ma'ahoro is one of the pioneers, yeah,
or the young women that they have started with this Girls Rise Up program.
It's a flagship for YWCA started in 2010.
YWCA organization is more in ensuring, recognizing the importance of disabilities.
It's important young women in that association must be involved
so that everybody ensures that there is equality, equal opportunities given to all young women.
So I joined the program in 2010.
They trained me, mold me, and mentored me to become a good model in Solomon Island.
[waves crashing against shore]
We have learned and trained how to stand in front, how to talk,
and how to explain what to teach to the community,
and so I have graduated as a pre-educator at that time.
Everybody should be treated as citizens of the country so all of us together are equal.
Treating each other with fairness, it's a blessing. Treating each other seeing
each other as we are one is so important. You will have the blessing to work with everyone.
You should have confidence in you, rise up and say 'Yes I can do it.'
See yourself as a potential person, a potential leader in your family,
in the community, and in the country as a whole.
[waves crashing against shore]