Ogba-Agege Region Women’s Retreat 2024 – Girlfriends Get-Away

International Women’s Day is a global platform used every year to celebrate women the world over and in most cases it is observed that the girl-child is somehow relegated to the background in these events

And so between March 29-31st 2024, the Ogba Agege Region Women’s Ministry in Lagos decided to do something very different with this year’s celebrations tagged “Girlfriends Get-Away”. The IWD was used as leverage to include our girl children so they did not feel left out as they are steadily growing up to become women.

“I also thought that as sisters from the same faith, we need to take it higher, by becoming friends, which is more delebrate and intimate. The planning committee did an excellent job that the Region recorded almost zero missing attendance”

From Wellness to Wealth Creation and Financial Freedom, the Speakers were from “among us, which was quite helpful as they were familiar with the audience, and the topics were given ahead of time to meet the needs of the women in attendance. The IWD was themed “Together We Thrive” – Ephesians 4:16, and encouraged participants to be vulnerable about their daily struggles as women.

The Three-Day event was packed with outdoor activities intended to create unique opportunities to bond and rekindle our friendships.

According to the Chairperson of the Planning Committee, Folasade Femi-Shofu, the theme “Girlfriends Getaway” was chosen to promote Christian sisters’ bonding, relaxation, and spiritual upliftment. It was aimed to provide a space for women and our girl-children to learn godly lessons, connect, unwind, and create lasting memories with ourselves. The idea was to offer a retreat away from the daily stress of life and allow sisters to focus on self-care and quality time with their girlfriends. This theme encourages camaraderie, support for our women, and mentoring for our girl children. According to her and judging by the feedback from both women and our girls, the retreat was indeed a prayer answered!

Our sisters had been dreaming of a getaway without their families for a long time. The classes were varied and centered on, firstly, being supportive of our girl friends’ needs and spiritual growth mentoring our girl children, and being able to spiritually guide and help them navigate the teenage to young adult years. Thirdly, the Aerobics classes, movies, and the get-together fun time brought out the youthfulness in everyone and the need for more relaxation and bonding among us sisters.

The event’s highlight was the formation of the Mentor and Mentee relationship where an older woman adopts a girl child to mentor.

Life Lessons learned from the Girlfriends retreat include the importance of self-care, the value of strong female friendships, the benefits of taking time to relax and recharge, and the power of creating meaningful connections with others, especially with our younger female children. Participants at the Retreat reiterated that the lessons learned will enhance their overall well-being, strengthen their support network within the church community, and cultivate a greater sense of fulfillment in giving back to the church.

An elated Martina Ajao, the Women Ministry Leader of the Region, alluding all glory to God for a very successful event said; “It’s going to be taking place every other year – once in two years as we must leverage on the value of teamwork to continue to measure the effectiveness of this Mentor/ Mentee Initiative. It was humbling for me to see that sisters thrived very well in their different areas of strength in pulling off a successful Retreat.

As a Region, we have been intentional about supporting one another to Thrive and also celebrating each other, especially those hitting golden and diamond ages!