Establish Girls' Empowerment Centre in Rural Kenya

"Whenever I reflect on my past and what I have gone through, I get motivated to thrive for a better future, a future where I would not depend on someone for help, a future where I can make my own decision, a future where I can pay my own bills, a future where I will not depend on a man to be happy.” Laurine, a student from the tailoring course.

It has been an incredible quarter with many more beneficiaries accessing training at NIGEE’s Girls Empowerment Center (GEC), and bringing with them a vibrancy and sense of value to the Center’s activities and classes. We continue to appreciate and thank our donors who are making this possible.

During the period October to December 2017 NIGEE continued to advance the GEC within Kisumu:

• So far we have reached 360 girls with the skills training since the inception of the program. In the period under review, we were able to enroll 68 new girls.
• Currently there are 12 girls enrolled in computer classes, 44 girls in hairdressing and 16 girls in tailoring; we are purchasing two tents to accommodate the large number of girls for hairdressing; another room has been given over to the tailoring class with new sewing machines ordered and more computers have also been added to the lab.
• In December, a total of 112 girls graduated from vocational training: 27 from hairdressing and beauty therapy course, 18 from dressmaking and design course, and 67 from computer literacy and applications class.
• Our porridge program is an important part of our activities and currently 15 toddlers are benefitting as they take daily porridge at 10am; knowing that their children are being cared for and are close at hand, our beneficiaries are concentrating on their trainings.  
• The GEC safe space has continued to provide a temporary haven for girls and young women who have been sexually exploited and are in immediate danger; we provide professional counseling to the survivors who also get mentored by their peers and are linked to appropriate services and nurtured as their cases are processed.
• The GEC Coordinator and Training Coordinator are working towards expanding our training capacity by engaging additional tutors to cope with the rapid growth in numbers.
• The GEC continues to provide life skills training to the girls who register for our GEC courses as a form of psychosocial support.  All the girls attend the sessions on a biweekly basis and as a result become confident in sharing their challenges and successes as they build self-esteem.
• NIGEE participated in 16 days of activism against Gender Based Violence campaign. In partnership with other organizations and the County government of Kisumu we had a procession in Kisumu to mark the journey towards ending GBV in Kisumu.
• The training coordinator participated in an interview with a local vernacular radio station (Radio Dala FM), and focused the 15-minute interview on creating opportunities for girls through mentorship.
• Our Kuria anti-FGM project is also active, and 8 girls did their Kenya Certificate of Primary Education and we are happy to report that all of them attained marks fit for joining secondary school next year.

NIGEE is proud to share a success story of one of our beneficiaries:

Laurine’s story

Laurine is a 23 year old, GEC beneficiary who hails from an informal settlement in Kisumu County. She got married at a tender age of 16.

She recalls the struggle she went through in marriage, and says she can vividly count the number of days she was happy as a woman of the house – which were few and far between.

Laurine’s life took a drastic turn in the year 2002 when her father died and her mother had to remarry. Life with her step father was never easy. The step father never bothered about her schooling. She had to drop out of school as parental support was never there. When things heated up and she could not withstand it anymore, she decided to go and live with her grandmother. Life there had its challenges as well. She later on decided to get married because she thought her life would change for the better.

In her marriage, Laurine got two children. She was happy to have two boys with the man she wanted to spend her entire life with. She never thought their love for each other would fade. As days went by, her husband become abusive, he would beat her up and use vulgar insults to her.  He would constantly tell her to go and get educated like other girls. “My husband would come home in the evening from work empty-handed and whenever I asked him for cash to buy meals he would remind me of how uneducated I was,” said Laurine, recalling her life then. “My sons and I went several nights without meals, even porridge for my two sons was by chance,” she added.

When it was too much for her to bear, she decided to go back to her parents’ home with her children and tried living under the same roof with her step father but it was still not easy so she took her children back to their father and returned to her home alone.

One day, a Field Assistant (FA) from NIGEE went to their home and had a chat with her. The FA took her through some of the programs NIGEE runs. Laurine got interested in joining the GEC and was admitted into dressmaking and design class.

While at the GEC, Laurine’s thirst for education was rejuvenated. She interacted more with fellow young women who come over to coach them on career choice, job seeking strategies, job interviewing skills, and life planning skills. The flashback on her marriage struggles also made her desire to learn to be a self-reliant woman in future. “Whenever I reflect on my past and what I have gone through, I get motivated to thrive for a better future, a future where I would not depend on someone for help, a future where I can make my own decision, a future where I can pay my own bills, a future where I will not depend on a man to be happy,” said Laurine in a somber mood.

“The only way for me to realize this dream for the future is through education and that is why I also decided to go back to school,” she added. Laurine registered as a private candidate for the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) at Nyamasaria Adult Learning Centre in Kisumu. Whenever she was not attending her dressmaking and design classes at the GEC, she would be at Nyamasaria for coaching or revising for her exams.  

She took her classes seriously and despite staying out of school for over 7 years, she grasped the subjects pretty quick. She sat for national examinations this year (2017) and scored 286 marks out of the possible 500 marks (pass mark is 250). Laurine hopes to join Secondary School next year (2018) and her dream is to become a celebrated fashion designer in future. NIGEE will support part of her secondary education.

She has also completed her dressmaking and design course and graduated in December (see last photo below). Her apt skills in sewing have earned her customers who mostly send orders for shopping bags. With the ban of plastic bags in Kenya, Laurine has made good fortune from making and selling shopping bags and uses parts of the income to sustain her stay at the GEC and saves part for her secondary school in January 2018.

This is a story of a beneficiary of NIGEE’s GEC who obtained both academic and vocational training certificates and will use the training to earn a living, take care of her children, and pay her own school fees. We are proud of her!

“I truly learnt much from our exchange visit at the Kibera School for Girls under Shining Hope for Communities (SHOFCO) in Kibera Slums in Nairobi. I was impressed of the community based programs run by the organization, some of which we can adopt into our programming. As Girls steering Committee we are going to establish a Girl-led Safe Spaces in the 3 major slums in Kisumu to curb the increasing number of Sexual and Gender Based Violence cases in the region according to recently released statistics.” Milka Ofwa, Chair-Girls Steering Committee.

During the period of June-September 2017 NIGEE have had the following activities:

• So far we have reached 305 girls at the GEC (90 girls - computer classes, 155 girls - hairdressing and 60 girls - tailoring) with the skills training since the inception of the program.
• During this period, we were able to enroll 100 new girls. Presently, 276 girls (41 – computer classes, 158 – hairdressing and 27 – tailoring) are undergoing vocational training at GEC; 49 have completed training.
• As part of enhancing our Girl-led programming, the members of the Girls Steering Committee (GSC) participated in a 2 day exchange visit at Kiberia School for Girls under SHOFCO, a local organization located in Kibera Slums, Nairobi. The visit was aimed at providing a platform for the girls to benchmark and borrow a leaf that would help inform our girl-led programming. The GSC members are in the process of developing the new five year girl-led strategic plan (2018-2022).
• Construction of our Girls Empowerment Centre which commenced in June is ongoing and the ground floor is almost complete. We still believe that once the building is completed will touch the lives of hundreds of teen mothers with their children each year by preparing them to continue with their education before transitioning them to regular schools.
• In our Kuria anti-FGM project the field coordinator visited all the 16 schools where the 60 FGM survivor’s beneficiaries are studying to check if all the students are in school and are continuing with their education. Follow up on their school attendance register and performance for all girls has been done on a regular basis to assist in case they experience challenges.

The girls’ experience at SHOFCO exchange Visit and their planned programs:

Looking at their faces, one could realize the magnitude of joy. The visit surely meant a lot to the members of girls’ steering committee. Being the first beneficiaries of the NIGEE education scholarship and empowerment through the girls empowerment centre (GEC), the girls had vowed to empower and mentor their peers. As part of realizing their desired goal, they proposed to visit the Kiberia School for girls as part of the benchmarking and learning process. The visit was dubbed “Empowered girls, Empower girls”. From the visit, the girls’ steering committee had the following experiences to share about what they learnt and some of the activities that they will adopt into their programs through a well scripted strategy plan which they are currently working on.

The visit to Nairobi took place from September 21-22, 2017 and 10 members of the girls’ steering committee represented NIGEE. The girls were taken through different programs’ components and they later visited project sites. The girls were impressed by the best practises and holistic approach used by the organization in their programming. Sharing their experiences after the trip the girls had the following to say;

“It was a great experience at SHOFCO, personally I was impressed by what I saw over there. As girls steering committee member I think we can establish a childcare and early childhood development and education (ECDE) centre at GEC and within the NIGEE bridge centres. This will host toddlers of the young women attending classes at our centre and nearby formal schools.” Lucy Masika, Girls Steering Committee member.

There is a great demand for Childcare and ECDE centre at the GEC to accommodate and provide a safe place for the children of the teen mothers undertaking vocational training in hairdressing, dressmaking and computer studies at the GEC and to those already linked to formal schools. So far the centre host over 20 young women and their kids.

While sharing her experience after the visit, Milka Ofwa alluded that the visit is an eye opener to them and they are planning to fast-track the strengthening of the sexual and gender based violence (SGBV) prevention and recovering mechanism in major slums in Kisumu City to help mitigate the increasing cases of SGBV cases in the area. “I truly learnt much from our exchange visit at Shining Hope for Communities (SHOFCO) in Kibera Slums in Nairobi. I was really impressed with their community based SGBV prevention and response program ran by community volunteers, some of which we can replicate in our program areas. As Girls steering Committee we are going to establish Girl-led Safe Spaces in the 3 major slums in Kisumu to curb the increasing number of Sexual and Gender Based Violence cases in the region according to recently released statistics.” Milka Ofwa, Chair-Girls Steering Committee.

NIGEE seek to establish a Girl-Led safe spaces in Obunga, Manyatta and Nyalenda slums. Already NIGEE has bridge centres in the mentioned slums which serve as a transition hub for young teen mothers who would like to resume formal learning.  

The girls’ steering committee members have unanimously decided that they are going to establish a Girl-led safe spaces in the slums of Kisumu, strength the SGBV referral path, establish a child care and ECDE Centre at the GEC.