By Ugbede-Ojo Dominic Kadiri | Project Leader
Dear Donors,
A girl does not choose the circumstances into which she is born.
She does not choose her neighbourhood, her family's income, or the work her mother does to survive.
Yet these circumstances can shape the dangers she encounters while growing up.
For some daughters of sex workers living in red-light areas in Nigeria, childhood can mean growing up around adults they do not know, spending long periods without supervision, struggling to remain in school, or watching their mothers fight each day to provide food and shelter.
As these girls enter adolescence, another danger can appear: someone promising a different life.
It may sound like an offer of work.
It may be a promise to pay school fees.
It may be an invitation to travel somewhere new and earn money.
For a girl who sees few opportunities around her, such promises can sound like a way out.
But sometimes, they are the beginning of trafficking and exploitation.
UNICEF warns that poverty, weak child-protection systems, harmful social conditions, conflict, and unsafe movement can increase children's exposure to trafficking. UNODC reported that about 83% of trafficking victims identified in Nigeria in 2021 were women and girls.
Recent evidence also shows how traffickers gain control. UNICEF's 2025 report on children moving along North African migration routes found that false promises were used in 59% of documented trafficking cases in the data examined. Girls were also more frequently exposed to sexual violence than boys.
This is why we want to reach girls before someone with harmful intentions reaches them first.
Through this project, 100 adolescent girls living in red-light areas will receive school supplies, meals, learning opportunities, vocational training, and access to safe spaces.
Trusted female mentors will spend time with the girls, listen to them, teach practical life skills, and help them recognize situations that may place them in danger.
For us, protection is not only about telling a girl to stay away from traffickers.
It is also about giving her reasons to believe she has other choices.
A classroom can be one of those choices.
Learning a trade can be another.
Having a trusted woman she can speak to when someone makes her an uncomfortable offer can also make a difference.
And sometimes, a daily meal can help keep a girl connected to a safe place rather than spending her day on the street.
We also think about their mothers.
A mother should not have to look at her daughter and fear that poverty will expose her to the same hardships she has experienced. Whatever a woman's circumstances may be, her daughter deserves the opportunity to learn, grow, and live free from exploitation.
To our donors, thank you for seeing these girls as children with their own dreams and futures.
Your support helps us create safer choices before exploitation begins.
If this project speaks to you, please share it with your family and friends. You can also start an individual fundraiser and invite others to help us protect more girls.
Where a girl is born should never decide what happens to her.
Thank you for standing with them.
With gratitude,
Ugbede-Ojo Dominic Kadiri
By Ugbede-Ojo Dominic Kadiri | Project Leader
By Ugbede-Ojo Dominic Kadiri | Project Leader
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