By Fatuma Abdullahi | Girl's Empowerment Project Youth Coordinator
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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