Justice and Human Rights Kenya Project #4720

The Safe House: An Enclave of Peace and Hope

by RefuSHE

Project Report | Feb 8, 2023
Ketty Finds Her Peace

By Madeline Balser | Development & Communications Coordinator

Ketty is a 15 year old girl from Burundi. Ketty fled from Burundi in 2018 due to issues of insecurity. In 2015, her father was accused of killing a general which caused great harm to her family. Ketty and her siblings were violently attacked, and her fatherfled,leaving Ketty and her siblings unaware of his location orwhether he was alive or dead. Ketty’s grandmother took herand her siblings in and stayed with them for three years until one day her brother saw the people who had attackedthem, and her grandmother sent them to Kenya for protection.

Ketty’s journey to Kenya was challenging and full of uncertainty. Her grandmother had a friend who operated a transport business transporting goods from Burundi to Kenya. She talked to her friend and made arrangements for their travel. She sold her farm and gave them some money for their journey. The driver brought them to Kenya and dropped them in Nairobi. Not knowing anyone, they heard people speaking their language in a church and decided to speak to the pastor.After hearing their story, he offered them accommodation and found a job for Ketty’s sister, selling tea in the neighborhood. Ketty lived with her sister and brother and with the assistance of the pastor, they were given an alien card by the UNHCR. Her older sister eventually left them because she could not handle the stress of raising her two siblings without a decent job.

Ketty joined the Safe House program on November 18th2022.

At Safe House, Ketty receives Cottage Skills training and English lessons. She feels safe and says they have provided her with basic needs. She has received mental health support as she speaks to a counselor who helps her relieve her stress. Before RefuSHE, Ketty was troubled. Having a father who sexually abused her was very difficult. She could not easily open up to her teachers about it and she had difficulty studying because of what happened at home. Her teachers noticed she was distracted and tried talking to her, but she found it hard to open up because she was embarrassed. Through RefuSHE’s intervention, Ketty is pleased to be in an environment surrounded by support from her caseworkers and other beneficiaries.

Ketty is very ambitious and wants to do a job where she will help others. She desires to be a pilot, doctor, and a soldier. She wants to be a pilot to explore different countries and see how others live by understanding different cultures. Shewants to be a soldier because she aspires to help people in difficult situations like when her family was attacked. She wants to be a doctor as it will earn her money while she helps the sick so that she can open achildren’s home in the future.

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Oct 13, 2022
Cottage Skills for Healing

By Madeline Balser | Development & Communications Coordinator

When refugee girls arrive at RefuSHE's Safe House, our top priority is to provide them with shelter, safety, and protection. Once these basic needs have been met, we go a step further and address the unique mental health needs of each girl in our care.

All the girls and young women in our Safe House program attend mental health counseling with a therapist to process and heal from past trauma. RefuSHE takes a comprehensive approach to mental health, rooted in the foundations of our holistic model. Talk therapy, although incredibly useful and effective, is only one approach to healing trauma. At RefuSHE, we also incorporate movement and creative arts therapy into our treatment plans. Our Yoga and Cottage Skills Programs work with both the mind and the body, while also helping to forge a sense of safe community from which refugee girls can draw comfort and support.

Cottage skills are traditional skills such as knitting, beading, hairdressing, cooking, and baking which are practical but also therapeutic. Safe shelters often provide protection, but residents have an abundance of unstructured, idle time which can fuel feelings of depression or hopelessness. Safe House residents enjoy expanding their skillsets through the Cottage Skills program while bonding with their housemates and processing trauma through creativity.

Incorporating creative arts therapies like cottage skills training into RefuSHE’s mental health work has helped refugee girls improve cognitive and sensory-motor functions, develop self-esteem and self-awareness, build emotional resilience, enhance their social skills, and reduce and resolve conflicts and distress. Much like the therapeutic nature of the handicraft work in the Artisan Collective, RefuSHE’s Cottage Skills Program employs repetitive motion and rhythmic crafts to keep the hands and minds of Safe House residents occupied and stress-free.

When girls exit the program, they leave equipped with skills which allow them to start up a petty trade business as well as increased self-worth and independence as individuals. These skills can also help break the cycle of domestic violence for refugee girls as they now have the tools to support themselves and are less likely to return to their perpetrators. Some girls exit the program and aim to earn a living from handicrafts while others may run a household with children and a family to care for. Wherever their path takes them, residents leave RefuSHE’s Safe House with the practical skills and self-confidence to help them navigate their next chapter.

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Jun 16, 2022
Aime Pursues a Career in Beauty

By Madeline Balser | Development & Communications Coordinator

A Sudden Shift

Aime remembers having a happy family life in Congo before the war. She was the only girl among three brothers. Her parents ran a small farm and she attended school regularly. Aime was set to complete her primary education before life took a sudden shift and militiamen attacked her family’s village in the middle of the night. Aime was separated from the rest of her family in the chaos of the attack, not realizing it would be the last time she would see any of her family members. She managed to find a ride that would take her out of the village along with other people fleeing the violence. Aime does not recall much of the journey, only that it was long and difficult, and that she hoped to find peace and a better future when they reached their destination.

When Aime arrived in Nairobi, she was alone and scared. Before nightfall, she came across a Congolese woman whom she easily identified as such because she was wearing colorful traditional Congolese attire. This woman welcomed Aime into her home and provided a stabilizing force for her even though she was ultimately forced to leave when the living situation became unhealthy.

Hope Restored

Aime joined RefuSHE’s Safe House in 2020 after facing many threats to her life and safety while living in Nairobi. Through the support of on-site counselors, Aime found the encouragement and strength she needed to begin healing from her difficult past. For the first time since she had fled the Congo, Aime felt like she had found a home where she belonged. Her hope was restored. The level of care that she received in the Safe House made her feel safe and valued. Through cottage skills training provided at the shelter, Aime developed skills in crocheting, cooking, baking, and basic makeup application that she would not have gained otherwise. In fact, she was the go-to person for Safe House residents who wanted to spruce up their looks when they went out for recreational activities.

Thanks to RefuSHE, Aime now has big plans for the future. She is enrolled in a community Hair & Beauty College to learn the practical skills she’ll need to prepare for a career in cosmetology. She is especially grateful to RefuSHE for giving her this vital lifeline towards self-sufficiency. Her ultimate goal is to one day run her own business – a big spa that will provide her with economic independence and make a difference in other people’s lives.

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