Protect Kenyan girls from Gender-Based Violence

Nancy Kay, our In-Coming Executive Director, and I just returned from Kenya, where we witnessed soaring inflation and a fuel crisis. Prices were escalating in just a few days. We also spent many days in the new compound with our 12 thriving girls. All were home on a school break, so the compound was filled with their unbounded energy. We were very impressed with how well they all get along, sharing a few jump ropes and a soccer ball and creating games with stones and local material. Laughter was the predominant sound.

But, playing came after a morning of study supervised by an experienced school teacher, who was making sure every girl would return to school with all their school work done. They crowded together in the small sitting room on their side of the duplex to study.

Kenya has shortened their school terms, making it hard to keep up; but our girls are all on track.

A unique feature of our program is the trauma-informed counseling that every girl receives. Each girl receives one-on-one counseling from an experienced clinical psychologist, Dr. Opondo, who has to be creative finding a private space to conduct her counseling.

In addition, her assistant, Teacher Ann, as she is fondly called, supervises group therapy, which can include crafts, singing, reading and games. She told us that being with our girls is the best part of her day. In this photo, she is thrilled with the supplies we brought for her to use with the girls.

Easter Sunday, Teacher Ann organized a field day. First, she helped us dye Easter eggs, which the girls promptly ate, and then we hid plastic eggs. Next, she arranged for a series of team competition events with Nancy and I heading up the two teams. The games went on all day with lots of cheering and good will. We were exhausted at the end.

I spent a lot of time with the Principal Investigators of the study conducted last year documenting the extent of gender-based violence (GBV) in our community. As we reported in January, the findings revealed pervasive GBV. Over 44% of the 327 Class 8 girls interviewed reported having experienced or knowing someone who experienced physical violence. The consequences of the reported physical, sexual, and emotional violence included teen pregnancy, school dropout, exchanging sex for money (often used for school fees), abortion, suicidal thoughts and depression. Perpetrators were people known to the girls with adult relatives and school boys the most common perpetrators of defilement (rape). The most vulnerable girls were age 14, born out of wedlock, and living with a guardian. However, mitigation is weak and most girls did not know whether the violence was against their rights. The need for a comprehensive program to prevent and mitigate the effects of GBV is urgent.

The next step is to conduct a feasibility study to describe the willingness of key stakeholders, including girls, to support our proposed after school program and to understand the opportunities and challenges of offering the program. Then, after approval from the Ministry of Education, we will launch a pilot of the program. 

We met with the Kenya Quilts for Empowerment Community Based Organization Board and reviewed our building options for the 3-story Community Resource Center. With inflation, the cost of building out the ground floor and including the skeletons of two top floors had more than doubled. The Board recommended just building out the ground floor and putting a cement pad roof on it and adding the additional two floors as funding allows. 

The completed Ground Floor will have a large meeting/dining space, therapy room, dispensary, kitchen, laundry, storage, conference room and toilets. In addition to donating to GlobalGiving, you can help by attending our Auction.

QFE Auction May 23-June 1

Please consider helping us build the Ground Floor by participating in an on-line auction featuring our women’s beautiful hand-made quilted products. It starts on May 23, which is the UN’s International Day to End Fistula.  We are still adding products, but check out our offerings at Folk Art to End Fistula 2022 Auction. Please share this link with your friends and family.

We are delighted to report that all of our girls have remained healthy and Covid-free during 2021. Each girl has also made strong educational progress, including staying at the top of their class or even being promoted to a higher level. Susan, the tallest girl in the last row, is diligently studying for her National Exams in March to determine her High School placement.

In our last report, we showed one of the girls with a few small corn plants. Those plants have flourished as seen in the background of the photo below and are about ready to be harvested. Their growth has stimulated the planting of a larger shamba (garden) in the compound that will help feed our growing girls. The three missing girls in this photo were all away in Boarding Schools.

Our Fall Auction and Benefit were successful. Videos of Nicholas Kristof’s greeting, a Tour of our New Compound, and a description of our trauma-informed counseling program by Dr. Opondo are all available on our website: www.quiltsforempowerment.org. 

With the proceeds from the Auction and Benefit, combined with donations from GlobalGiving, we are moving closer to making a decision about how and when to proceed with our Building Plans for Phase II – Construction of our three-story Community Resource Center. We are very close to having funds to start with the main floor and skeleton of the top two floors; which will become a training hub and community resource to decrease Gender-Based Violence (GBV).

The need for our project to protect local girls from GBV has become even painfully clearer. We have just completed data collection on a large study to describe the types and extent of GBV in our area. Individual interviews with girls in school and girls who have dropped out of school as well as focus groups of community members have revealed pervasive GBV. It has also highlighted a total lack of community resources and chaos in the public schools. The findings were so disturbing that the research team had to go through a debriefing and as the Principal Investigator reported, “The things that the children and women go through are heart breaking. Am still feeling shaken by what I heard.”

Data analysis has begun and will be used to submit our plan to the Ministry of Education to initiate a pilot afterschool program. We will incorporate the study’s recommendations from students, teachers, families and community members in the design of the program. The need is urgent and we thank you for helping us meet it by expanding our physical capacity to become a Community Resource Center. 

Links:

• Check out our website