Education and Empowerment for Refugee Girls

The Girls Empowerment Project has helped our young women in so many ways. We are very proud of our young women who overcome many struggles to successfully complete the income generation component of the Girls Empowerment Project. The Maisha Collective is a 14-month apprenticeship that serves as the final component of the GEP. The Collective not only teaches the young women financial literacy and management skills, but also provides them with an income for their work, with the goal of living independently and providing for themselves and their families. Euphrozine’s story perfectly displays the outcome we aim for with all of our Maisha Collective participants. 

Euphrozine fled Rwanda in 2008 after her parents were killed. She became pregnant as a result of sexual assault while staying with a host family in Uganda. Upon learning of her pregnancy, her host family forced her to leave. Euphrozine gave birth to a beautiful baby boy, Kevin who was born with an array of complications – he is partially blind, deaf, and requires regular therapy because he has cerebral palsy and is epileptic.  Caring for Kevin made it difficult for Euphrozine to find a safe home, receive an education or earn any income. Her situation seemed hopeless.

 Then Euphrozine and Kevin found Heshima Kenya.  Upon entering, Euphrozine and Kevin were supported in the Safe House, and utilized a variety of case management services that Heshima provides. When Euphrozine was ready, she joined the Maisha Collective, the income generation component of Heshima Kenya. While enrolled in the Maisha Collective, Euphrozine worked extremely hard to earnestly save her money so she could live independently. 

 Euphrozine’s hard work proved successful - on March 9^th, she and Kevin moved to their first home as a family, a challenge Euphrozine assumed she would never achieve because of her son’s disability. She will continue to participate in the Maisha Collective and Heshima Kenya will support Kevin’s medical care. Reflecting upon the joys and challenges of her recent independence, Euphrozine shares “I wanted to be independent - to take care of my baby, and feed him with my own money.  At first I was so scared of the unknown - I was scared that I would be out there with my child as a refugee in a city that is still very foreign to me. Then I finally said, let me try.  Now, I'm proud of myself - and it’s not scary, because I'm not alone - I still have Heshima Kenya.”