Leadership Training for Girls in Rural Kenya

Greetings from Enoosaen and all the girls and staff at the Kakenya Center for Excellence! We kicked off the New Year with renewed energy and gratitude for the transformational work that your support is making possible. Thank you for supporting our Health and Leadership program and for believing in our mission to change lives of vulnerable girls through education and empowermnet.

We ended 2016 with a fun-filled week of training at our boarding school campus in Enoosaen. More than 100 girls from the surrounding community joined our 6th and 7th graders for the immersive training experience, and, as always, it was a week of new friendships, skills building, and positive transformations. The week culminated in a year-end graduation celebration for all 300 girls who participated in the week-long camps in 2016. This graduation ceremony serves as an alternative rite of passage for our participants, held at a time when FGM ceremonies traditionally take place. We celebrate the girls' value and accomplishments, reinforcing their right to make their own choices about the future.

As we look forward to another year of learning and growth, we are especially excited about our plans for our weekend training program. Last year, we successfully expanded our reach to two new divisions, Kilgoris and Pirar. This allowed us to train students from 15 additional primary schools, bringing crucial information about sexual and reproductive health, female genital mutilation, gender equity, and child rights to girls and boys as they reach adolescence and begin to make some of the most important decisions in determining their future. In 2017, we will continue to partner with new schools in these divisions, reaching as many of the remaining 74 as possible!

We could not do any of this without wonderful supporters like you. Again, thank you for investing in marginalized girls and making a lasting difference in their lives!

Links:

• Our website