HELP EMPLOY VULNERABLE GIRLS

“Seeing, is believing” “Out of sight, out of mind”. These two sayings came to mind when I got ready to write this report. This made me realize that Totally Youth could easily become guilty of both perceptions where our vulnerable girls are concerned. When we first met the Kayayei – homeless girls, our hearts went out to them. We could not believe that girls as young as 8 years, can be sleeping in the open in their numbers, like a huge, open can of sardines. We were shocked and their plight pushed us into immediate action. We walked the markets and the lorry parks and met with seven (7) different types of Kayayei - those who were:

1. Trafficked in truckloads by wicked, ruthless men who promised them jobs
2. Taken from their homes by relatives who promised them schooling
3. Forced to run away from abusive parents and husbands
4. Forced to run away from forced or early marriages or from witch hunters
5. Forced to seek greener pastures in the big cities by parents and husbands
6. Left with no option, but to come down for temporary menial jobs to help pay their school fees
7. Born into this terrible kifestyle, by single mother Kayayei

We believed their stories, because we saw the state they were in. We therefore sat down and developed a holistic programme that will:

1. Give them a safe haven
2. Ensure they are in good health
3. Ensure mentoring and counseling
4. Build their capacity
5. Give them employable skills
6. Place them in jobs
7. Help them start their own businesses

Through our community work, we also came across another set of disadvantaged girls who only differ from the Kayayei, because they live in extended family homes with parent(s) or relatives, who cannot look after them. However, like the Kayayei, they sleep in the open, have no health insurance, are often raped, are either dropouts or illiterates, are unemployed, mostly single mothers and have no future. We therefore decided to bring this group of under-privileged girls under this same programme as the Kayayei. So yes, “seeing is believing”.

But since we started fundraising, our efforts have not yielded the expected results. Out of the US$24,560 required to support 120 girls a year, we have so far raised US$990 through Global Giving. We have to date been able to help only one local vulnerable girl – Hannah, who has been placed as a house-help. This surely puts us in the spectrum of “out of sight, out of mind” in the view of the many girls we interviewed and explained the project to. It is as if we have forgotten their plight, and this makes us very sad and dismayed. This programme can build a foundation for “youth creating jobs for youth” to improve the quality of life of disadvantaged girls. This programme will have a domino effect that will see disadvantaged girls supporting each other, to bring an end to poverty among girls/women. This programme must be implemented for the sake of these girls.

Thankfully, there is light at the end of the tunnel, yet! In the course of last month, we met an ex-Kayayo who had worked her way painfully through school through intermittent work as a house-help, selling little items and/or undertaking a variety of menial jobs. It was a hard life with numerous days of little or no food, but she completed her schooling and now helps other vulnerable girls. She has proven the concept of youth creating jobs for youth. She is however not out of the woods yet and is living from hand to mouth, which makes her support to her peers, unsustainable. She will be joining our Business Facilitation programme early April 2016. She will be our Project Manager and Ambassador for our Give Vulnerable Girls Employable Skills. With her on board, we can rejuvenate our programme and with your support, we will be able to help our two groups of girls.

We have not forgotten our girls. They are still in our minds and I trust that you have them in your mind too. Please help us through Global Giving, to help them. Together, we can lay the foundation for “Youth Creating Jobs For Youth” for our girls. You can donate through Global giving USA as well as Global Giving UK. We know we can count on you to give 120 vulnerable girls employable skills and gainful occupations, every year. Thank You and God bless.

A good project can only be successful through the support of benevolent donors, and this project has had its share and we are very grateful indeed. At the same time, one can only give so much and no more, based on several legitimate reasons. Unfortunately however, the vulnerable young women in our project - Save Vulnerable Girls, have no viable options to choose from. Their plight remains the same every day. They are exploited on a daily basis and they suffer from sexual, physical and mental abuse on a regular basis. Their dreams of making enough money for themselves and their families, fade with each sundown and their fears of what torture awaits them, rise with each sunrise. They have no hope of breaking out of this vicious cycle by themselves. If we cannot raise enough funds to help them effectively, we would have succeeded only in dashing the little hope they have found. We therefore trust that you will consider donating some of your hard-earned money towards this humanitarian cause. Please help give one poor, vulnerable young woman a sustainable income to cover food, clothing and shelter today.

We at Totally Youth are now at a point where we may have to close down this critical intervention if we fail to raise the needed funds to make the project viable. Furthermore, our project manager is no longer willing to work on pro-bono basis. As clearly indicated on the project's web page on GlobalGiving, we have not been able to raise most of the funds to cover critical items including recurrent items for the personal use of the participants. Closing down this project would mean keeping 120 young women in abject poverty every year. Since some of these participants have children (some have 1 to 3 children), the affected number per year could reach 180 or more, Rehabilitations made to some of our facilities to support the project would also then be wasted.

We already have in place fully functioning ICT, Catering, Fashion and Beauty Centers as well as our Knowledge Space ready, to support the capacity building and hands-on training of these vulnerable young women. Once trained, we will place them in the hospitality industry as well as safe households. We desperately need your support, especially with the recurrent items that go directly to the participants to make it possible for them to effectively participate in the programme to gain employable skills. They deserve this project which will place them and transform them into confident, healthy young women who will be responsible and productive citizens. Your support will take 120 vulnerable young women and their dependents off the streets into secure environments. You will help them provide for themselves, the basic necessities of life, i.e.: food, clothing and shelter, as a minimum.

Right now they are waiting with high hopes for the project to help them become productive citizens. Meanwhile, we are looking up to you, dear benevolent donor, to find a little more room in your hearts to help these young women. These vulnerable women, who have been dragged by poverty into prostitution, unwanted pregnancies, unsafe abortions, single parenthood, homelessness, etc.

If we at Totally Youth have failed miserably to present their plight successfully, please do not let our weak “elevator pitch”, deprive them of this opportunity to get out of abject poverty. Without additional assistance, Totally Youth will not be able to do it on its own. Please lend a helping hand to these young women who have been deprived of dignity, hope and purpose of life. Give them something positive to look forward to in life.

Your support during this festive month of December will be a double blessing to these suffering young women, because they will have access to food, clothing and shelter for six weeks as well as gain employable skills. And once we have placed them, they will become responsible, income-earning citizens who can fend for themselves and their dependents. If our project receives more donations and/or gets more donors than other projects during this end-of-year fundraising, we would get rewards from GlobalGiving, which could give us a GlobalGiving Superstar Status. This will make us more visible on the GlobalGiving platform.

We are determined to go on with this project with your help because of its potential high impact for poverty reduction, especially for women. We have been working diligently to keep the project alive and just as a good omen, we just this week found a pro-bono project manager. She will be starting with us in two weeks, which is a blessing indeed.
We are therefore appealing for urgent support for the Kayayei and the other vulnerable young women we have identified.Please help us this project to stay viable.

You are only a few clicks away from giving at least one vulnerable young woman a lifeline and the Best Christmas Ever. Please donate any amount of your choice today at www.globalgiving.org/projects/save-homeless-girls. Thank you.

DO HAVE YOURSELF A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS and MAY YOUR NEW YEAR BE THE HAPPIEST EVER.
GOD BLESS