Education and Empowerment for Refugee Girls

Neema fled from war in her home country, the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2012. Earlier that same year, she was separated from her parents when war came to her village; their whereabouts remain unknown. She was therefore living with her brother in another small village when one night militia broke into her home. Her brother and sister-in-law were beaten while she hid under the bed. Unsure if her brother and his wife were alive, she fled to a relative’s house, where they immediately fled the village. She was separated from her relatives at the Kenya border, so continued the remainder of the journey to Nairobi alone.  Once in Nairobi, she was able to find her brother again, but the violence had changed him. Neema’s life with her brother was not good; he began drinking, and his wife insisted that Neema stay home and care for the house for no pay, preventing her from attending school.

Neema had no resources to escape this environment; she did not speak the local language and could not communicate. She had very few skills for employment, so was forced to remain in the bleak conditions working as unpaid labor in her brother’s home. Neema finally found Heshima Kenyain 2014 after hearing of its programs during an awareness and outreach campaign designed in her native language. She came to live in the Safe House at 16 years old, and was immediately enrolled in the Girls’ Empowerment Project for basic education. She worked hard and learned quickly, picking up English and joining the vocational courses for tailoring and straight stitching class in 2015. She graduated and joined the Maisha Collective in January 2016.

Neema continues with her education and is in level 3; she has registered to sit for the KCPE exams in November 2016, which has been her dream since she enrolled into the programs. Neema has grown, gaining self-confidence and self- awareness through the life-skills classes. She was even able to host an intervention for her brother regarding his drinking, which led him to enroll in treatment and recovery programs. Through the stipend Neema earns in the Maisha collective, she is able to contribute to her brother’s household so he may focus on his healing. Neema is looking to the future, saving her money and planning on starting her own clothing business when she graduates from the collective in 2019.

“I am happy that I’ve been able to get my education back and have earned a skill from Heshima Kenya that is focused on my future where I will have a better life for my brother and myself!”

Links:

• http://www.heshimakenya.org