Gender Equality Kenya Project #2049

Education and Empowerment for Refugee Girls

by RefuSHE

Education and Empowerment for Refugee Girls

Project Report | Sep 8, 2011
Girls Leading the Way

By Blair Brettschneider | Development and Advocacy Program Assistant

“Life in Somalia was so hard for a girl because of education. They believed that you get married and have husbands, you don’t go to school. I believe I am a leader because I don’t have to be old to have my voice heard. It all depends on how much I believe and use my brain.” – Girl’s Empowerment Project participant

Because of your generous support, our Girl’s Empowerment Project participants have engaged in a variety of educational and enriching activities throughout the summer. In addition to the basic education, life-skills discussion, tailoring program and income generating project which are the core components of the Girl’s Empowerment Project, the girls are currently preparing for Cultural Day, where they will celebrate the diverse cultures represented at Heshima Kenya.

A volunteer working with Heshima Kenya in Nairobi reports that “the girls have each created symbols for themselves. We are having them made into fabric stamps, and then making a wall-hanging with all of the symbols.” Girls are also experimenting with using fabric stamps for future products of the Maisha Collective, the income-generating project for graduates of the Girl’s Empowerment Project.

At a time when the refugee crisis in Somalia and Kenya is becoming even more severe, your support of Heshima Kenya’s programs is extremely critical and makes a visible and lasting impact. We thank you for your continued support of our Girl’s Empowerment Project, which is empowering refugee girls and young women to share their voices and become leaders.

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Jun 8, 2011
Creative Expression: A Field Trip to the GoDown

By Fatuma Abdullahi | Girl's Empowerment Project Youth Coordinator

Field trip to the GoDown Arts Centre

The past few months have been filled with engaging and educational activities for the girls in our Girl’s Empowerment Project. In April, Heshima Kenya staff and volunteers led 42 girls on a field trip to the GoDown Arts Centre in Nairobi, which is home to art workshops, performances, exhibitions and discussion forums. The purpose of the trip was to expose the girls to a variety of artists and artwork in Nairobi and educate them about opportunities for creative expression.

During their field trip, the girls were divided into two groups and given tours by GoDown Centre employees. The tour included a look at painters’ and sculptors’ studios, a music recording studio, an art exhibit of Somali cartoons, and the dance studio of Karuka Maisha’s street performers. Each of the girls took particular interest in a different type of art. Some enjoyed the recording studio and took turns singing into the microphone in the recording booth, while others loved the dance studio and had the chance to dance with the Karuka Maisha performers.

The girls used what they learned during their field trip to create their own art back at Heshima Kenya. They made their own cartoons, complete with their own messages, written or implicit. They enjoyed the activities so much that they postponed lunch to continue working on their projects. Today, the girls’ cartoons are hanging all around the walls of Heshima Kenya’s classroom.

Other recent Girl’s Empowerment Project activities included two Life-Skills trainings in May about nutrition and reproductive health. The girls also produced a newsletter in May about the impact of HIV/AIDS on refugee communities.

To learn more about the Girl’s Empowerment Project, visit Heshima Kenya’s blog and follow us on Facebook. Your generous contributions allow Heshima Kenya to continue to offer creative and educational opportunities to refugee girls and young women in our Girl’s Empowerment Project. Thank you so much for your support, and we look forward to sharing more stories with you!

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Mar 7, 2011
Strengthening Voices: HIV and AIDS Training

By Tara Finglas | Development & Advocacy Officer

The Girl's Empowerment Project

Dear Supporters,

A lot has been going on with our Girl's Empowerment Project – it has been growing in strength with 45 girls and young women being empowered to further their education and become leaders. Just this last month, students participated in Life Skills training on HIV/AIDS Stigma and Discrimination. A visiting HIV/AIDS Officer from the organization, GIZ, led the class with background information about HIV/AIDS figures and statistics, the impact of the disease, HIV prevention, stigma and discrimination.

This topic really captured the girls and women’s imagination and they brainstormed questions to ask the visiting program officer and spoke from their own knowledge and experience of HIV and AIDS. The girls and women were so captivated by the discussion and the issue that they did not take a break from the class but kept learning and discussing from morning until lunch time.

‘I was so happy to see the students so active and asking questions and answering, unlike previous classes they would shy away from certain areas,’ says Fatuma Abdullahi, the Girls’ Empowerment Project Youth Coordinator, ‘even the non-Kiswahili and English were never left out. It was one of a kind training where the participation was very high.’

The success of the Girl’s Empowerment Project is grounded in four transitional components that address the various learning, social, economic, and emotional challenges experienced by unaccompanied refugee girls and young women. It fosters confidence and builds their capacity to respond to their experiences and begin healing, demand their rights, and seek a life of dignity.

The Girl’s Empowerment Project model includes:

- Basic Education

- Life Skills Training and Discussion

- Vocational Training

- Financial Literacy Training and Income Generation

The Maisha Collective is a major component of the Financial Literacy Training and Income Generation section of the Girl’s Empowerment Project. Graduates from the Girl’s Empowerment Project are invited to join the Maisha Collective where they will participate in an intensive tailoring course where they learn the art of creating designs and the technique of ‘tie and dye.’ All scarves are hand-made and use one-of-a-kind designs that are created by the girls and women.

‘It makes me feel happy and proud to know American women are wearing our scarves. To know there are people out there who are listening to our stories and wanting to help makes me very happy,’ says Grace, one of the participants in the Maisha Collective.

In the last month Heshima Kenya has opened an office in the heart of Chicago to further the advocacy and development of Heshima Kenya’s programs and the Maisha Collective. The office is open for our supporters who are interested in finding out more about our work and the issues that has driven many of the girls and women to Nairobi as unaccompanied urban refugees. Heshima Kenya is also using the Chicago office to showcase and sell our line of Maisha scarves produced by the Collective in Nairobi.

To continue supporting The Girl’s Empowerment Project and Heshima Kenya, please make a donation and follow Heshima Kenya on Facebook and Twitter

The Maisha Collective

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