Protect Kenyan girls from Gender-Based Violence

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