“I sat my KCPE in 1997, and scored 498 out of 700.Can you imagine receiving calling letters from both Lwak Girls and Nyakach Girls (National schools) and not being able to go because your father believes you do not deserve it because you are a girl?” reports a NIGEE girls' mentor.
It has been yet again an action-packed quarter with beneficiaries accessing training at the GEC, bringing with them new ideas and energy to our activities and classes. Our girls’ babies continue to enjoy nutritious porridge provided daily, thanks to our donors! Most importantly, construction of our very own (not rental!!) Girls Empowerment Centre commenced in June and we are all excited to see this HUGE dream kick off.
During the period of April to June 2017 NIGEE continued to advance activities at the GEC:
One Mentor’s story
NIGEE has set up bridge centres in two densely populated informal settlements in Kisumu City (in Obunga and Manyatta). We recently set up another one in a rural setting (Seme) which currently has 3 teen mothers. These centres serve as hubs for young teen mothers who would like to resume formal learning. They participate in sessions where they share their experiences both as young mothers and students, to encourage and support each other in their journey back to and through school.
Mentors guide and encourage young girls in the pursuit for quality education and in bridge centres, their involvement inspires these girls to keep up with their studies. They incorporate their personal narratives to inspire girls and young mothers to resume school, proving to them that it can be done.
In Seme, we came across Judith who scored C+ in her national secondary school exams (KSCE) last year and is a mother of 5 children. Her eldest son will be sitting the same exams (KSCE) this year, the second born will sit the same exams next year and the third born the year after. The fourth born is in Grade 7, and the youngest in Grade 5.
Judith knows the struggles a young teen mother faces in resuming formal learning, because she was married at the age of 13. She spent ten years out of school and then resumed, only to face isolation and more challenges at school.
When she talks about her Father, her hands tremble a bit and she keeps her eyes trained on the television screen in her house. Her children are watching a Nigerian movie, and she looks on and then says, “After I had sat for my national primary school exams (KCPE) and passed, my father clearly told me that he would never choose to educate me over his sons and if it hurt so much, that I could kill myself for all he cared.”
The Deputy Head Teacher of her primary school had been the one trying to persuade her father to take her to school and when they could not get through to him, the deputy promised that he would pay for her education. She was happy but that was until she heard his condition: he would pay for her education only if she got married to him, and by then she was 12. She refused and sought admission at a local school and stayed on for only two terms before she dropped out due to lack of tuition fees. She relocated to Seme and that’s when she got married.
At this, she turns and asks, “I sat my KCPE in 1997, and scored 498 out of 700. Can you imagine receiving calling letters from both Lwak Girls and Nyakach Girls (both national schools) and not being able to go because your father believes you do not deserve it because you are a girl?”
Judith knows she will get admission into the University however her priority at the moment is to support her three children who are in secondary school. She admits that having a supportive husband helped her resume her studies and she now encourages young girls who are in school to focus on their studies first. She says that education opens up someone’s mind to what is happening in the world. She wants her children to get the best education and to use their knowledge and experiences to live a better life than she led.
In terms of profession, she is looking forward to pursuing teacher education and believes she would be an understanding teacher as it would give her an opportunity to encourage young girls to stay in school and complete their studies.
As a Mentor of other girls, she feels that young girls at this time and age have many more opportunities to seek for help and guidance in achieving their dreams. Parents are more aware of the value of the girl child, but she wants the girls to know their worth and value first. She mentors the three teen mothers at the Seme Bridge Centre, and is mobilizing more to join.
“I like staying at the GEC [Girls' Empowerment Centre] because I do not have many chores to do. I can now concentrate on my studies and I do not doze off in class because I am not hungry. I can play with friends in school and during the weekends I can relax and study. It feels good.” - 'Jane', rescued by NIGEE in January 2017.
It has been an incredible quarter with many more beneficiaries accessing training at the GEC, bringing with them vibrancy to our activities and classes. Our girls’ babies are especially happy as they enjoy nutritious porridge provided daily, thanks to our donors!
During the period of January to March 2017 NIGEE continued to advance the Girls’ Empowerment Centre (GEC) located within Kisumu City:
Other achievements during the quarter:
NIGEE is proud to share a success story of one of the beneficiaries:
Jane’s Story
Jane does not hesitate - she says “Journalist,” when asked what profession she envisions for herself. It’s in this moment that it dawns on her how far she has come and how far she still has to go to achieve her dream of becoming a journalist.
Coming from a family of five, she cannot tell exactly when she became the breadwinner of her family, but she knows it was after her mother passed away (her father passed away earlier) and her uncle was ailing. She was fourteen and would walk to the nearest town, source for sukumawiki (kales) from a farmer’s group and then travel almost 15 kilometres to Kisumu to sell them at the market. She would give the farmers their share of the profits and use what was left of her earnings to buy a few household items. She did this every weekend when she was not in school. Their humble home was in a sorry state of disrepair and offered no security and little comfort; it was the path of motorbike riders who are known for sexual abuse of young girls they transport to/from school.
Her two elder sisters were married but their living conditions could not enable them to sustain Jane and two younger siblings. Being a total orphan coupled with the fact that their home was now left to her and her two siblings, Jane would wake up every school day at 4am, do all the household chores: fetch water from the nearby stream, prepare her brother and sister for school, and prepare packed lunch for her siblings, if available, before they all left for school.
It was when her uncle who was partially supported them passed away that her head teacher contacted NIGEE. Following discussions with her aunt, siblings, and school community, it was agreed that Jane would be hosted at the GEC hostel - a safe space for her where she is able her concentrate on her studies. Her aunt agreed to take in the two smaller siblings despite also caring for 11 other children.
Jane is looking forward to sitting for her Kenya Certificate of Primary Examinations at the end of this year. She attends the nearest public primary school which is within walking distance of the GEC. NIGEE provided her with all the necessary items for her to be in school.
She says “I like staying at the GEC because I do not have many chores to do. I can now concentrate on my studies and I do not doze off in class because I am not hungry. I can play with friends in school and during the weekends I can relax and study. It feels good.”
She now wakes up at 5am and with the support of the GEC Matron and another beneficiary, they prepare for school and make it on time. She has friends now and can play during games time without worrying about rushing home to take care of her siblings. They prepare their own food and do the dishes and laundry.
She also receives help with her homework, making it easier for her to understand what she is taught at school. Now that schools have closed, she would like to go home and visit her brother and sister because she misses them. She knows that she has to work hard so she can take care of them.
At this point she says that she was hesitant to leave her home when NIGEE agreed to have her at the hostel because they had made a promise to their mother before she died that they would not leave their home. She fears that some of her relatives might take their land, but refuses to dwell on the thought: “I hope they do not, because that is our home. Our parents left it to us.”
Despite her worry for her home, her eyes light up and she says, “I forgot something…” she stretches her hands out and then says “the other important reason why I love being here is that we have electricity, at the switch of a button, I can sit down to do my homework and even polish my shoes and prepare for school. It’s good to have electricity.”
“I was sinking. You know…I was, I mean my family was sinking and there was nothing I could do to save everyone but NIGEE cared and they listened and helped. They really helped and it was a relief.” Says Marissa
The success and gratitude of our beneficiaries is all the reward and motivation NIGEE staff needs to continue their work to empower the girl child. Join us to promote many more girls and see their lives transform and their dreams come to life. NIGEE is proud to share their success thus far:
During the period November – December 2016 NIGEE continued to advance the Girls’ Empowerment Centre (GEC) within Kisumu:
Marissa’s Story
She joined secondary school in 2010 and studied for two years where she was forced to drop out because of lack of school fees. She says “I could not stay home because seeing other people go to school while I stayed at home depressed me. It was very painful seeing their life continue while mine stopped because I used to attend a day school, so they would go in the morning and come back in the evening.”
She decided to relocate to Kisumu to stay with a relative and it is during her stay there that she got pregnant. She returned home and when her Father saw her, he was so angry that she had to run away and seek shelter at NIGEE’s offices. She says “I feared for my life.” It was then that NIGEE offered to pay her school fees so she could resume studies after having her child. However, her mother got involved in a car accident just as she had resumed school and had to be hospitalized for three months.
“So, I was in form three by then and I would go and be by her side at the hospital and take care of my child, and then to make things worse, I had to move my siblings to my Uncle’s home because there was no one to look after them when I spent at the hospital. After doing all this I would return to school.”
She says that her visit to the hospital depended on her mother’s condition. She would wake up feeling much better on some days while on some she would be in so much pain and this meant that Mary had to stay with her. So she would wait for her to fall asleep then study. On her Father she says, “My Father was and still is a drunkard. He never did much to provide for us. It was my mother who worked hard.” Mary laughs and then shakes her head as she adds, “ In fact NIGEE knew I was a total orphan when they first met me, such that when my Mother got involved in an accident they were shocked, but as for my Father, they have never met him to date. He’s never cared that much and that’s just the way it is.”
She admits that she could barely concentrate on her studies while taking care of her mother, siblings and her young child. One day when she was in school sitting an exam she got a call that her child was ill and she rushed him to the hospital. Her child passed on two days later. Her mother was still unwell and unable to respond and she called Millicent, the NIGEE Field Assistant in her county. She could not finish her exams in her grief, and Millicent and the NIGEE team came to her aid. Mary shakes her head and for a moment she holds her breath, and then she says “I was sinking. You know…I was, I mean my family was sinking and there was nothing I could do to save everyone but NIGEE cared and they listened and helped. They really helped and it was a relief.”
Millicent called her every week to check up on her and her family. She says that NIGEE provided them with food and other basic things they needed like clothes. “Like one time, Godfrey asked about my family through Millicent, and he ensured we had twenty kilograms of maize flour which kept us going for months. It was just unbelievable.”
Her mother was discharged from hospital when she was in term one in form four. The one who caused the accident paid a huge percentage of the hospital bill while her Uncle paid the remaining bit. Her mother could not walk without crutches and she still needed Mary’s help in doing many things around the house. Mary was relieved to have her mother at home, even though it hurt her that her child was gone and she did her best not to burden her mother with her grief.
NIGEE paid for her boarding fees when it came to the second term of school and she went on to sit for her Kenya certificate of secondary examinations. She scored a D+. She admits that she could have earned a better grade but she had missed out on a lot of her studies in the previous year. She contemplated repeating form four to score a better grade but after much deliberation with NIGEE, it was agreed that it would not be the wise decision.
She was called to the NIGEE office later on and after undergoing an interview was employed as a Validator.
Marissa aspires to advance her studies and mentor other vulnerable girls. She would like all girls to know that lack of school fees is not the end of the world and it does not mean that it’s okay to get pregnant when your parents cannot afford to take you to school.
She says, “Patience is very important and it is something most young girls need to learn. For example when your parents don’t have money to pay your fees, wait, hope and ask about these government scholarships and apply- do something to preserve yourself because your luck might change for the better.”
She has five siblings and out of the five are two sisters whom she always advises to be content with what they have and be grateful. She says that her sister who is currently in class seven is not pleased with their economic status and she always tells her that she has to work hard and be grateful for what they have. She adds, “I know it is not perfect, but we are trying and no condition is permanent, but I don’t want any of my sisters to go through what I went through and that is why I work hard.”
Marissa adds that she is happy that she can provide for her family now with the little she makes as a Validator. She smiles when she tells me of how happy she feels when she sees a change of perception and behaviour in any girl she encourages. Like last year, she says that she supported another beneficiary who had lost her child. She says that being with her through that time and grieving with her was a healing for her too.
When asked about the one thing she wishes she would never talk about, she says “losing my child,” and then she smiles, but she adds “you know as a Validator, when you share your story with these vulnerable girls, you have to filter your story. There are many chapters in my life story, and so I share what I know can inspire them. However when it comes to losing a child, not many people understand the psychological effect of that on any mother-forget that I was barely eighteen then, but the pain that comes is unexplainable and that is why it is the one part of my story that I never like talking about, very few understand what it is to lose a child.”
She also adds that she is good friends with the other girl who lost a child and they always see each other. She is full of hope about the future like a boxer; she gets knocked down but comes back up swinging.
“My window of a better life was shattered when I had to drop out of school because my mother couldn’t manage to pay my school fees. It worsened when I got pregnant and the man responsible denied any involvement and declined to take any responsibility” says Milka
During the period under review (August-October 2016) NIGEE continues to advance the Girls’ Empowerment Centre (GEC) within Kisumu:
Milka story
Milka today is a self-assured, independent 26 year old young woman. She is a partial orphan and a mother of a young boy. She is amongst the beneficiaries who successfully completed her secondary school education last year after joining the NIGEE scholarship program in 2013.
It was her inner strength and resilience that enabled her to never lose hope of completing her studies and seizing the opportunity when NIGEE presented it to her.
“I managed to complete my secondary school last year and joined the Girls Empowerment Centre where I finished the stage one on computer packages and hoping to join hairdressing after stage two of computer class, which will help me be employable and self-reliant “
Due to her courage, excitement and determination, currently Milka is also a validator employed by NIGEE, one of 9 extraordinary young women who were chosen to participate in another project helping girls in similar circumstances:
“I share with the girls my life story and those who are hopeless like I was before NIGEE got me. I encourage them and help them view the world in a new angle and also boost their morale since NIGEE is here to help them overcome some of their problems”
Our NIGEE girls’ successes and willingness to give back to those in similar situations is concrete proof of our belief that education empowers young girls so they can be self-reliant, chart out their own destinies and live well within the society, the nation and the world.
“NIGEE has made me the woman I am today and I’m hoping to join college soon with the savings I have been making from the allowance I get from being a validator; and have also been sending some money to my mother for her upkeep and that of my son.”
Milka is also the Chairperson for the Girls Steering Committee, which is one of the governance structure in NIGEE. The committee spearheads designing of girl-led interventions to address emerging issues raised by the girls. She is a mother, a mentor and valued member of society, thanks to her changed attitude from haplessness to believing she can!
During the period under review (May – July 2016), NIGEE finalized the Girls’ Empowerment Centre (GEC) within Kisumu.
The girls have continued to appreciate the donors who have made this project (GEC) a reality. The second group of computer class are soon graduating. Below is a story of a new GEC beneficiary:
Belinda : ‘Down but not out!’
Belinda is 21 years old and she’s the first born in her family. She is amongst the beneficiaries who successfully completed their secondary school education last year after joining the NIGEE scholarship program in 2013. Her mother who was sole breadwinner passed on while she was still in primary school. They left with their father who wasn’t keen on supporting the family and didn’t believe in educating a girl - Putting food on the table was quite a challenge for them and on many occasions they went hungry. Belinda sat for her National Primary Examinations (KCPE) in 2010 and scored 311 marks out of the possible 500. She then joined Thurgem Secondary School in 2010, studied for one year and then dropped out due to lack of school fees since her father could not afford it. She stayed out of school for one year.
“Life was very difficult in the year 2012 when I dropped out of school” narrates Belinda. Getting personal effects became a bigger challenge and she didn’t have an option so she opted to get involved with a man who could provide her basic needs like sanitary towels and other personal effect. In the event, she got pregnant during the relationship and the man refused to take responsibility for the pregnancy. To support her child she was forced to do manual work for people within her community to raise funds. It’s at this point that she got married to a man who promised to support her only to discover that the man had a first wife and she was therefore going to be the second wife. Two months into the marriage she found it unbearable and then she escaped.
In 2013, she was recruited as a beneficiary and she went back to school and sat for her secondary examinations (KCSE) last year and scored a C. “NIGEE changed my life and gave me a new perspective. I am now able to take care of my child,” she says.
Belinda currently benefits from the various programs offered by the GEC. For her, the GEC is a platform to explore boundless possibilities that will help her be a good role model for her child. “I thank NIGEE for empowering me and making me proud of myself,” she concludes.
She’s one of the beneficiaries to benefit from the new hostel facilities at the Girls’ Empowerment Centre since her family lives far from the centre and she has no relative in Kisumu.
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