Educate and Empower Street Children in Kenya

Electronic waste, primarily from cell phones and computers, is a common problem in the developing world. Toxic chemicals leak from dump sites into water or cause illness for children scavenging waste. Students from Penn State Berks and Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology worked together to identify possible productive uses of this waste. After exploring several options, they decided on jewelry. They then trained youth at the Children and Youth Empowerment Centre to safely make jewelry and desk clocks from electronic waste, turning this scourge into a source of income. Youth are considering other items to produce from e-waste including picture frames and magnets. This project made the Kenyan news!

Links:

• Article from the Daily Nation!

We're pleased to let you know the youth of the Children and Youth Empowerment Centre have been working hard to expand their businesses, earn money and start lives outside of the Centre. The Zawadi Youth Enterprise Programme (ZYEP), founded in 2010 to help youth start businesses, is now host to 25 young entrepreneurs! Youth businesses include charcoal briquettes, agriculture, hay-bailing, animal rearing, tailoring, cooking and small shops. These businesses have helped more than one quarter of ZYEP’s youth achieve financial independence. These youth are able to live outside the Centre and support themselves.

The CYEC recently welcomed its first Peace Corps Volunteer, who has been aiding youth in finding jobs and expanding their businesses. In just a few short months, the Peace Corps Volunteer has helped more than five youth businesses create comprehensive business plans and has secured permanent employment for one youth. 

Over the past few months, many of ZYEP’s entrepreneurs have participated in a number of agricultural and trade shows in Nyeri and Nairobi. These shows offer youth the opportunity to advertise their businesses and attract new customers. The youth are currently preparing for Nyeri County Youth Innovation and Talent Show where they will showcase their businesses and special skills. 

Global Giving, through the support of Microsoft's YouthSpark program, will be matching gifts made Tues. Dec. 3 starting at noon ET (11 am Central) 100%! This is a great (and rare) opportunity to double the impact of your gift! The funds won't last long, so please give now!

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Staff and volunteers at the CYEC have created two new youth clubs at the Centre. The clubs are designed to teach the CYEC’s young people (age 13 and up) about puberty, adolescence, HIV-prevention, goal setting and conflict resolution. The girls have named their club “Soul Sisters” and meet each Thursday to discuss menstruation, gender roles in Kenyan society and domestic violence. The boys’ “Brotherhood” club meets each Friday. The young people sip tea while discussing their hopes, fears and ambitions. Staff use a public health curriculum written by the United Nations Population Council to help design their lessons.

The clubs have been a wild success and as such, local leaders have asked the staff to write their lessons in a simple curriculum that can be used elsewhere in Kenya. Local schools have asked that the CYEC’s staff and volunteers share their lessons with the local school children. We look forward to helping other local people start similar empowerment clubs.

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Today (Wed. 9 Oct.) is a Global Giving bonus day. Your gifts today are matched at 30% - it's an easy way to make a big difference in the lives of these young people!

Thanks for all you do!

The children of the CYEC are learning about the environment by removing garbage from their Centre and the surrounding community. Children act as “trash police” who keep the Centre clean, compost bins ensure that nothing goes to waste, an environmental club is working to beautify the Centre and “Community Clean-Up Days” are encouraging the community to join the CYEC in its efforts to preserve the environment.

To instill a sense of environmental responsibility, children are assigned the duty of being trash police. Trash police patrol the Centre, picking up garbage and reminding others to keep the Centre clean.

The CYEC’s children are also learning about composting. Food scraps such as peels, stems and stalks are collected in colorful composting bins. Children are assigned the duty of emptying the bins into a large compost pile that is used to fertilize the Centre’s garden.

The children of the CYEC have also started an “environmental club” which meets once per week to discuss environmental issues and to brainstorm ways that the CYEC can help improve the environment. The club is creating a “green square” that will be filled with a variety of trees, bushes and flowers.

But the clean-up does not stop at the gates of the Centre. The first of many “Community Clean-Up Days” was held in mid-August. Children donated their Saturday to pick up trash around the community. The children were divided into groups which focused on different areas including a popular shopping center and a church. They talked to local community members about the importance of community service and a clean environment.

Also keep Wed. 9 Oct. on your calendar. On that day, Global Giving will match all gifts at 30%. Watch for more to come on this!

One of the main challenges for programs for street children is a successful transition to independent living once the youth complete their education. With high unemployment, (and no homes to return to) they are at a high risk of returning to the streets. To help young people transition to life on their own the CYEC has developed plans for eco-villages where youth can work and further their skills. After several years of preparation and planning, we are thrilled that the CYEC has started settlement at the first eco-village site in Othaya, about 25 minutes from Nyeri.

Youth from the Centre recently participated in a two-day asset-based community development workshop to help them identify available resources that can be used to develop the14 acre site. The long-term vision is to have an ecologically and economically sustainable community that will serve as a launch pad for the youth. Specific ideas for development include horticulture production, dairy goats, and eco-tourism. Like the CYEC, this will be a model facility for the national program for street-dwelling families.