1000 Kibera slum girls empowered to excel

All 320 girls from the 17 partner schools completed their final examination without a hitch. (15 YEAR OLD MISS EXAMS TO BE WITH HER LOVER) This was the headlines in our Daily Newspapers. Our society is still very low to listening to the needs of girls and working with them towards their prosperity. Polycom Development Project using our slogan G-Pende meaning Love Yourself, dedicate her resources in ensuring that girls understands the importance of education. This is the only sure way of breaking the circle of poverty in their lives. 15 very needy girls out these 320 have already applied for education scholarship through Polycom Development Project. Can we let them down after all the encouragements, NO, with the little each one gives, our girls should join high school.

Look at these figures if you want to understand the difference your contribution makes in the lives of these girls. In 2017, we had no grant at all for our adolescent girls programs despite the numerous grant proposal we wrote to different organizations. We understand that donor funding is shrinking, but that does not mean that the needs in the community are going away, it only means that we must work harder and dig deeper into our pockets to make it happen.

1. 510 adolescent girls benefited from the Saturday weekly forums on Being Yourself, Being Empowered, Being Healthy and Being Money Savvy, no wonder there were no reports of school drop outs. 2 became pregnant but continued coming to school through our encouragment.

2. 5840 Sanitary towels were distributed to needy girls from Kibera Slums

3. 225 girls participated actively in sports activities

4. 12 girls received education scholarships under the EDUCATE HER PROJECT

5. 1020 Litres of detergents were distributed to clean the toilets

The are just but a clock of what your money did. We are approaching #GivingTuesday, kindly save 20 dollars for Kibera Girls, we love you always.

(www.polycomgirls.org)

"Look at Mum Jane, serving all of us with love, as if we are her own children, irrespective of our schools, tribes, or even economic status. I have always felt that I have a mother, eventhough my mum died when I was only 8 years old, this is what I call love!" This was part of a paragraph Winny's essay (Not her real Name) a 15 year old dolescent girls from one of the schools under Polycom Development Project's programs.

Towards the International Day of Girlchild 2017, Polycom engaged 600 girls from 17 schools to write essays on the Power of Love, 20 betst Essay writers were to attend the International Day of the Girlchild event. The essays were amazing and eye opening. the girls took their time to research and think well. They reflected on parental, romantic and even Godly love, they talked about how lives have changed through love and how our Country Kenya which is so much divided aling tribal lines should pursure love to  move forward as a country.

All the Essays were forwarded to the office, there were a set of questions set aside to ascetain that the individual girls were the writers of the essays and the girls did great. We believe that this is  as a result of the mentorship opportunities that Polycom Development Project have provided for the girls. Winners f received a school back pack and a back packs and beautiful tshirts written Power of Love. All the girls in attendance received a packet of Sanitary Towels. 

Polycom as an organization is what it is today because of love, our beloved wellwishers have donated over 23,000 US dollars on this platform for the past 3 years to get us where we are today. We successfully continue to mentor our girls to rise beyond challenges in their day to day lives and focus on education. The number one challenge is poverty, a cycle that can only be broken through education. The sports project continue to create safer spaces for girls to meet and share. Poor girls willing to pursue their secondary education have been supported, we have more girls yeaning for our support and look forward to continued support.

It is the POWER OFLOVE!

‘This project report is a submission to GlobalGiving’s 2017 Fail Forward Contest, where organizations are asked to share a story of when they tried something new that didn’t go as planned and how they learned from it. Enjoy!’

The idea of the Talking Boxes crossed my mind when I met Serah, a 13 year old girl whose step father had been abusing sexually for over 2 months, when she reported this to her mum she took her to live with her maternal grandmother, where the uncle, her mother's brother started abusing her as well, she was so lost she did not know what to do. She was bitter that she  did not want to talk, then I encouraged her to put it on paper and drop it in my office. She let it all out and we took actions that helped her move to the next level. My worry of what other girls were going through in silence brought the idea of the Talking Boxes to my mind.

I collected and wrapped the few biscuit cartons I could get, labelled the, "Speak You Mind - a problem shared is a problem half solved." A few girls shared very weighty issues, the teachers were not comfortable, they started tearing the boxes to find out what the girls were writing, especially in schools where there were trends of sexual harassment. I had to stop because they boxes would be destroyed and they were nolonger private. When I resisted, the teachers stopped me and the project collapsed.

I did not give up, I found a well wisher who helped me to make wooden lockable boxes which we fixed in school on locations identified by the girls, where they would feel comfortable putting their anonymous notes. We locked the boxes and kept the keys with us, we would only visit the  schools on weekly basis to collect the contents. Some teachers further made space keys, some moved the boxes in their offices citing security issues. We came up with an idea to have a spare padlock in the office which we would change to a school and take the other padlock to another school. The teachers then started asking for to be paid to allow us work with the kids, this was tough the project had no funding completely through it was very effective. We had no option at this stage but to let go for a while.

Our next strategy to get this going was to get the school girls as our allies, through trainings, our girls understood the importance of the boxes and internalized the fact that the boxes are for their own benefit and not the teachers, the girls became our Ambassadors. Through Globalgiving funds, we have been able to brand these Ambassadors who feel proud and with power that they do not allow anyone to mess up our project in schools. The project has so far been documented as the best avenue to girls liberation, we currently work with 17 schools across Kibera Slums. We have 25 pending applications from schools that have developed interest in working with us. The girls tell other girls from other schools about the benefits of our programs which serve more that 1200 girls. We just got into partnership with UNFPA who would like to support us to reach more schools in Kibera and beyond. The project is so much of a success, we have managed to get data on issues that affect girls that many have never talked about.

My persistence created a unique platform that enable girl to open up on their deeply rooted secrets so that they can be helped. We are growing and changing lives across Kibera and beyond.

Links:

• Talking Boxes on Radio

Term two 2017 just ended 240 girls attended the Saturday Forums at our Centre in Kibera. The girls used this space as a safespace to play and share. We had new developments:

• Received Pad Making Machine and Materials from Lois Harris, one of our potential partners. We are working on making pads for our girls, our trial stage is done, we are working on making our own brand, engaging women women are mothers to the adolescent girls in our program to make and sell the pads. This will improve their livelihoods.
• 380 Adolescent girls received pads this term under this project, they were happy and celebrated, the do not have to worry about hygiene or messing themselves up in class, they can now pursue their education without fear.
• We organised our programs under different Sustainable Development Goals, we have committed to the spirit of Leave No One Behind. We are keen on SDG 11 on making cities Inclusive, Safe, Resilient and Sustainable; SDG 3 and 6. We were able to link up with other implementer, we are girls and women focused making us part and parcel of SDG 5. The girls have information about SDG and have learnt to engage duty bearers on the same.

Our unique project was art, equipping girls to exercise their rights through sports. The girls learnt to express themselves through drawing, to write and act different scenarios on the lives of girls. Our girls are now more empowered, have high self esteem and can package and communicate on matters that affect them.

Empowered grils will empower others adn stand up for their rights to rise beyong the challenges that bring them down everyday.

Links:

• Talking Boxes, heart to heart sharing space

“The harder we try, the higher we fly” Our girls were able to make presentations at the United Nations Office in Nairobi, thanks to your generous donations. Who would have imagined?

"I will remember this for the rest of my life, I cannot imagine that I just made a presentation at the United Nations," that was Maryanne a 15 year old girl living in Kibera Slums. She was one of the girls who represented other girls at the United Nations for the Urban Thinkers Campus, hosted by Polycom Development Project.

This is a critical space where different urban actor are brought together under UN Habitat's World Urban Campaign to strategize and develop structures that can lead us to the City We Need. Polycom for the second time around created this platform that was attended by 185 people, among them the Women, Elderly, the youth, religious leaders, pressure groups, activists, government representatives, the United Nations, Civil society organizations, the academia and media. Our focus was Safety - The City We Need is Safe (http://www.worldurbancampaign.org/events/wamama-tunauwezo-2).

With the Sustainable Development Goals principle of Leave no one behind, Polycom Development Project made sure that the adolescent girls participated in the process of making our cities safe for everyone.The girls shared how they are harassed sexually in public and private spaces, they shared how they are punished by the teachers for delaying during breaks when the toilets they have for girls are inadequate and therefore girls must queue for longer. The girls shocked the actors who thought they understood issues that affect girls. The girls were articulate, they shared how they want to be part of the implementation of the Sustainable Developement Goals so that their issues are factored in by planners.

The girls continue to meet in the office on Saturdays for the girls forums, they feel they are very empowered now to identify and to package their presentations to duty bearers. Their lobby is for the duty bearers to engage with them while designing programs aimed and empowering them.

“I can’t believe this just happened, we would like to come to Kibera, to meet these girls in their set up, we can never change anything if we do not come down to the ground,” remarked Christine Auclair – the World Urban Campaign Manager

CONCULSION

Most girls now speak out on matters that affect them, they know where to go for help and also that it is not their fault that bad things happen to them.

Links:

• Urban Thinkers Campus Report 2017