GoodHeart| Aundrene Cameron continues focus on girls’ safety, advocacy

Although it’s only been three days since Aundrene Cameron was announced as the 2025 Jamaica Rhodes Scholar, she already has big plans to continue making an impact in her country. The former Miss Jamaica Festival Queen and this year’s recipient of the Governor General’s Achievement Award is preparing to head to the University of Oxford next year to pursue a Master of Science in Criminology and Criminal Justice and a Master of Philosophy in Law with a specific focus on human trafficking. Alongside her academic journey, she’s determined to use this opportunity to take her national project, Girls Who Fight Back, to the next level, transforming it into a non-profit organisation.

When asked why she selected these areas of study she said: “I come from Spanish Town, [which] has been viewed as one of the greatest and criminal hotspots for [human] trafficking and abductions. And growing up, you see a lot of situations around you where women are sexually assaulted, raped and subject to gender-based violence, and that has been very scary. My national project was aimed at helping that situation, to teach young girls self-defence. So seeing that around me I really wanted to be able to contribute some level of change and it is a desire to see better and to create a safer Jamaica for women and girls.”

Created during her reign as queen in 2023, Girls Who Fight Back aims to equip young girls at the primary and secondary school levels with the knowledge to recognise dangerous situations. Through workshops, they learn basic self-defence techniques to protect themselves from harm. And so far, the project has been going well.

“I want to continue ensuring girls are taught how to defend themselves and I am hoping that this opportunity will allow me to further push the initiative, turning it into a non-profit organisation. So far I’ve done 60 students... We’ve had one workshop in each county with three different schools and we have been teaching very young girls self-defence and it has been great to hear the feedback. It really pushes me to keep going because they really appreciate it. And when I heard the stories of how scared they are just to go down the road and to take public transportation, it really breaks my heart. So knowing that I am doing something that is really impacting lives... I am just so grateful, “ the 22-year-old told GoodHeart.

Although she will be abroad during the Rhodes Scholarship period, Cameron says she will continue to manage and advance the initiative, albeit in a different way.

“A huge part of it (the project) is awareness. It’s not just physically teaching them self-defence and I think during the holidays I can have workshops but I can also focus on the awareness and educational aspect of it; so I don’t need to physically be here to achieve all of the objectives of the organisation. Plus, I do have persons who I am working with, the instructors, for example, they can jump in and do sessions, so I am flexible. I will see how best it works out.”

rollesha.laing@gleanerjm.com