Chelsea Ramjit ‘Being a girl is a great thing’

Chelsea was on Friday named as one of three ambassadors of the Always #LikeAGirlTT Campaign, an “epic battle” to put an end to the drop in self-confidence some young women experience during puberty. The campaign is also focusing on unshackling the phrase “like a girl” from one with a misogynistic connotation to one of empowerment and confidence.

Of the ways she believes the intersection of theatre and education can be beneficial to young pupils, Chelsea says, “Theatre is, by far, an awesome tool for learning, especially helping the ones with special needs; it helps with their fine and gross motor skills, building confidence, working with groups, and working at their own pace of learning.” She says the arts are uplifting and theatre can help channel persons’ emotions and abilities to take on different experiences – all part of processing and understanding our lived experiences and the lived experiences of others.

“You act the experience and you forget about yourself and what you are going through for a minute … you have to experience it to feel it! “To the children I teach, I impart onto them ‘Trust the process!’ Drama and theatre are process work and can be applied to real life. I let my kids know theatre is a home where you can take off one coat and wear another but most importantly, a place where you can be yourself.” From a young age, she was drawn to performing. She pinpoints the spark of her flame to an episode of Scouting for Talent where comedian Learie Joseph performed a monologue. She recalls his (paraphrased) line, “I see a zombie, ah feel ah go dead!” The utterance stuck with her. The next day, she performed the monologue in school for her friends and teachers.

She went on to take part in drama pieces, jingle competitions, San Fest, and chorale speaking – all during her primary school years. She had a competitive lull in secondary school but jokes that she was still the funniest person in her year.

In Form 5, her form teacher suggested she study Theatre at tertiary level.

“Getting in University was another ball game.

There were so many amazingly talented people.

I felt like a little fish in this big ocean,” she describes the challenges she faced upon her enrolment. It was after taking courses in Theatre in Education that she stumbled upon her true passion in the arts: “…not to be an actress but a facilitator or teacher and use drama and theatre as a tool for learning and helping people.” Helping, nurturing, and teaching are traits Chelsea is all too familiar with. At age 15 – during the year of her CXC examinations – she faced a staggering challenge when her mother passed away from a battle with cervical cancer. Chelsea took on the role of caretaker of her younger sister – the three ladies shared a special bond – and had to juggle her schooling and examinations with being there for both her sister and herself.

“I don’t think you can see strength all the time, sometimes you have to feel it and trust it when you face hardships,” she describes her views on courage, “trusting that ultimately you have what it takes to be who you want to be, even as you recognise you’ll meet challenges and failure along the way.” She knows the challenges are a multitude, especially for women in our country. Of these challenges, she highlights, “We have issues of choice in academia, abuse, representation, poverty, puberty, peer pressure, and most of all, lack of self-confidence.” She hopes that through her personal work she can help to reverse these issues and bring young women to a place of belief in themselves, “but also represent their voice and shed light on issues they regularly face.” One way she believes women can become empowered is through education, which she sees as a conduit to solve issues. “When I say education I do not limit it to academia,” she clarifies, “but social and moral knowledge; anything that will assist in learning and the betterment of a girl.” She understands the pressure young women face to enter “prestigious fields” such as law and medicine; her own family questioned her decision to study Theatre, although they have since come around.

She links this pressure to the worries of past generations who measure improved standards of living through glamorous careers, money, and attractive lifestyles. “My take is if you do something you love and you do it with love, everything will work out as its supposed to,” Chelsea says of the reasons girls should forego the academic pressures put on them by society to follow their scholastic instincts. “No great story has the perfect beginning, middle, and end.” As for the term “like a girl”, she wants all women and girls to reclaim it. She says we all have sisters, nieces, daughters who have been told to do things “like a girl”: “They do it with every power-packed bone in their bodies,” she says of the capability of girls. “Strolling into adulthood, society sees [being] ‘like a girl’ as weak or petty.

Being like a girl is amazing, and all people should see that.” She notes the childhood confidence and zest innate to little girls – traits that are slowly diminished – and believes as women grow older, “you should keep that confidence and wear it like a lantern in your heart forever.” She wishes people would stop judging girls based on appearance and underestimating their strengths – two misconceptions that peeve her.

“Women have so much more to bring to the table other than their looks. Their strength entails everything from the emotional right up to the physical.” She will carry the torch for herself, her sister, and all girls alike to reclaim what has been taken from women and girls the world over. She sees self-knowledge and a sense of self-worth as the true weapons to combat low self-esteem. “Who is going to follow the dreams you dreamt about? Who is going to love you more than yourself? Understanding the self is so crucial; if I were to live my life on people’s comments I would always be in a bad place,” she says firmly about selfencouragement.

As she continues to grow into womanhood, she has recognised the importance of self-acceptance, even through one’s faults. Nothing and no one is perfect, but one of her mantras is, “A bad situation doesn’t mean there’s going to be a bad ending.” She has faced challenging times and bad situations of her own, but the end of her script is not yet staged.

She will graduate in October, and is thinking of possibly pursuing a Masters in Communication Studies; she can see a link between the fields of Theatre and Communication Studies and hopes to use her academic knowledge to swipe up any opportunities that come her way in both fields. She refuses to limit herself to teaching, and has dreams of one day opening her own theatre company where she can further the bonds between theatre and education.

She acknowledges that women and girls still face hardships but is adamant that drawing on the confidence of youth can help overcome moments of weakness and doubt. “Self-confidence isn’t developed by escaping these difficulties, but rather it’s nurtured and strengthened by the way we respond to these circumstances and how we view ourselves in spite of them. Being a girl is a great thing.”