By Keely Bicknell | Fundraising & Communications Officer
Hello Friend,
You are investing into the trauma recovery and self esteem journey of over 1,000 incredible young people studying at Seed of Hope this year.
Today, we want to thank you for refusing to ignore the mental health needs of young people in Kenya and to highlight just how vital and life-saving this is, using up to date statistics and student stories.
There is a mental health crisis in Kenya
Young men and women in the underserved communities we work are facing severe economic pressure, soaring living costs and systemic barriers to accessing education, skills and safe employment. For young women and girls in particular, these struggles place them at high risk of exploitation, trauma and addiction.
Data from the Shamiri Institute underscores the urgent scale of the mental health challenge facing young people in Kenya:
Seed of Hope provides a holistic solution:
Seed of Hope was purposefully designed by Programme Manager Florence Olwenge, a trained counsellor and teacher, around the crucial understanding that vocational skills alone are not enough to break free from generational poverty.
Without emotional support, trauma and mental distress quietly derail learning, lesson attendance, and self-belief. It’s not enough to just provide opportunities for training and skills development.
While studying at Seed of Hope, students access:
Student voices: the transformational power of wellbeing support
The true impact of your support is best seen through the words of the students themselves. In the below accounts, all names have been changed.
"Since I come from a family where you have to be strong all the time, I never had the space to talk about how I was really doing. I had so much fear of failure, fear of letting my family down, being the first born, and fear that maybe I wasn't good enough. These feelings stayed with me during my training, affecting my concentration and social interactions. It wasn’t until one of my teachers referred me for counselling after which, things started to change."
Recognising that the cycle of poverty impacts the emotional wellbeing of whole families, some young mothers like Emily can receive both counselling and motherhood classes, run through Seed of Hope's partnership with the Montessori Institute:
"Training helped me gain valuable knowledge on how to care for children aged 0 to 3 years. Looking back, I feel sad about some of the mistakes I made while raising my own child, but the experience has helped me grow and learn to do better."
"Growing up, I always felt a deep responsibility to be a role model to my younger siblings. My mother works as a greengrocer, and my father is a mechanic. They work hard, but life has not always been easy. Their income is barely enough to sustain the family, let alone support higher education for all of us. Today, I’m proud to say that I’ve joined University, where I’m studying Catering and Accommodation Management. I walk into lecture halls knowing I belong there, because Seed of Hope helped me believe that I do."
Thank you for planting seeds of hope, resilience, and bright futures ahead!
Every best wish,
Keely and the whole Raising Futures Kenya team
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