Self-reliance for 300 vulnerable Kenyan girls

“Seed of Hope is the best place for me because I have the opportunity to get skills free of charge, learning materials and a good meal at lunch time!” Annet says as we sat down during our one on one conversation. It is through these kinds of interactions that we get to learn more about the background of each student who enrols at Seed of Hope. We build good rapports with our students so they feel able to approach us whenever they have an issue that might affect their training while at Seed of Hope. Annet comes from a polygamous family and has six siblings. Her mother was a single parent when she got married as a second wife when Annet was 7 years old. Life was not easy for Annet in her new family as she was expected not only to carry out house chores after school but also sell groundnuts on the streets in order to get money for the family since she was treated as the outsider. This caused her to perform poorly at the end of primary education exams hence her home and dreams of joining high school were shattered. She said that her parents could not even afford to pay for her school fees in the local day school much as she had pleaded with them.

In 2017, Annet’s older brother brought her to Nairobi to help him in house chores as his wife was about to have a baby. For the two years after completing primary school, Annet has been living with her brother helping out around the house. One day she went to a salon and the lady who does her hair asked whether she was interested in getting some skills in hair or fashion design. The hair dresser had heard about Seed of Hope after we moved in to the new community and thought it would benefit a young girl like Annet. This news excited Annet and she shared with her brother who was very supportive of the idea of getting vocational skills. They came to inquire about Seed of Hope and eventually, Annet was enrolled in dressmaking, fashion and design course.

Teacher Florence who is in charge of the dressmaking class says that Annet’s self-esteem was very low when she came but through the empowerment programme for the young girls her attitude, confidence and self- esteem improved significantly and more so she has improved in her course work as well. Annets’s plan for the future is to find employment in the textile industry in order to become independent but also support her parents , educate her younger siblings to the level of education they would have wanted.

Seed of Hope has come a long way in transforming the lives of girls like Annet who were once hopeless and unsure what the future holds for them because of poverty in the family. The skills imparted to our students not only focus on vocational courses but business enterprise, life skills, and mentorship and many other empowerment programmes. All this is geared towards giving them hope; dignity and opportunity to be confident, creative and self-driven in order to become self-reliant so as to raise their living standards and that of their families.

In addition, Raising Futures Kenya provides a platform where students can share their views, opinion and concerns regarding their time at Seed of Hope. Through focused group discussions that is ongoing across the Seed of hope centres, our students now have the opportunity to inform the organization on how best they can be supported to achieve their goal but also how we can improve the Seed of Hope programme.

The girls also celebrated World Menstruation Day on 28 May by expressing their gratitude to Seed of Hope programme for the provision of sanitary towels. Majority of our girls confessed that due to poverty, their parents cannot afford to buy them a packet of sanitary towel hence forced to find other alternatives .It is through your donations that our girls receive this essential commodity in order to keep them in school during that time of the month but also protect them from men who lure and take advantage of their lack of money to buy.

Thank you for your continuing support because it is through your generous giving towards Seed of Hope that has made it possible for the girls like Annet to raise their confidence, self-esteem through the opportunity given to them so as to have a bright and promising future.  We believe that girls at Seed of Hope have potential to live independent and successful lives through employment or self-employment.

Each New Year at Seed of Hope begins with a flurry of activity as our teaching team work hard to enrol new students. Since January when Seed of Hope resumed learning, we have enrolled 116 girls to acquire vocational skills in the courses of their choice. Each course also now has a mandatory computing course so that all students are fully equipped to fit into the job market with complete confidence. The enrolment process is facilitated by our work in the community through our outreach programme that is run by Seed of Hope staff in the communities surrounding our centres. They help us to identify and build relationships with disadvantaged girls in the community in order to prepare them for enrolment at Seed of Hope.

January was an exciting month as we also celebrated our Nairobi graduation. This was the 14th graduation since the implementation of Seed of Hope in 2002. The graduation event took place in our new Seed of Hope premises and it attracted a lot of people as the community had never witnessed such an event. The parents and guardians also showed up in larger numbers to witness their girls being crowned and issued with a certificate in their course of study. We had plenty of guests come to celebrate including our new chair of trustees from the UK who had been visiting our projects to see and learn what we do at the grass root level. He also had the opportunity to interact with our beneficiaries, staff, graduates and other stakeholders during his time with us.

During the graduation celebration I spoke with Caroline. She comes from a humble family of three siblings. Her mother is the sole breadwinner of a huge family of cousins, uncles and aunts who all live together. Caroline struggled to earned her secondary education certificate as her mother worked to provide the basic necessities for the family. After her secondary education, she stayed idle at home for 2 years as her mother could not afford to pay for her college. She was in the state of hopelessness when a preacher from their village informed them about the Seed of Hope centre, meaning in 2017 Caroline joined the dressmaking, fashion & fabric design course.

In her two years of skills training, Caroline was ranked among the best students who showed great improvement and interest to her coursework. She then went for attachment at Nairobi Textile Business Centre, one of the biggest textile industries within the city. At first it was a challenge to commute every day from home to the city, but her mother and siblings supported her with bus fare and a few extra coins for lunch. Her boss was that impressed by her hard work that they began to refer clients to her, sent her to get supplies of materials and deliver products to clients in different places. At the end of the day, Caroline would be given some pocket money which motivated her to learn new designs. During the presentation of their project at the graduation, we were overwhelmed by the beautiful pieces of clothes she had made as she brought her graduation gown as well as 4 other gowns for the models who were showcasing her beautiful collections.

All of Caroline’s family came to the graduation to celebrate her accomplishment. I noticed a few of her family members were dressed up in nice African Kitenge designs so I took the opportunity to inquire where they were made and I could not believe it when Caroline’s older sister said that Caroline had made all their clothes. Her mother who was so proud had this to say, “Today I am the happiest mother on earth because I can finally see the seed that was planted in my daughter. I would like to thank Seed of Hope and everyone involved in making this project a success.” Caroline’s family, friends and neighbours could not hide their joy as they asked me to take photos of them. The best news is that up to date, Caroline is still working at Nairobi textile and she plans to save enough to establish her business within the same location as she has built a client base.

I would like to sincerely thank you for supporting young girls like Caroline who had lost hope in life and through your generous donations towards the Seed of Hope programme, she is now living a happy life, dreaming to achieve greater things. Thank you for allowing us to equip and empower these young girls with relevant skills that give them hope, dignity and opportunity to be employed or self – employed becoming self-reliant and able to raise the standards of living for their families.

As of 2017, approximately 1,300 girls have graduated from our Seed of Hope programme with not only a certificate in their course of studies, but with the confidence to compete in the job market and make positive impact wherever they go. 

As the year comes to an end, there is always splendor and excitement at our Seed of Hope centres across Kenya as the second year students graduate from their courses. Kariti Seed of Hope centre held their celebration on Wednesday last week with 42 graduates, while 51 Seed of Hope Kitui students graduated on Friday. Our Nairobi centre will graduate in January. These annual events bring together families, friends, former graduates and the whole community to witness the achievements of the students at the end of their training. According to teacher Faith from Kariti centre, the number of people who came to witness the graduation had doubled that of 2017! This is due to greater impact the programme has made in the lives of many young people who are now making a positive impact in the community they come from.

A young woman called Rachel attended the Kariti graduation - she graduated from Kariti Seed of Hope in 2009 and is now running her own dressmaking, fashion design business in a town close to her village. She was invited to give a speech during the graduation ceremony and was full of praise of how the Seed of Hope programme took her from feeling hopeless to a great businesswoman. Rachel who is now married with two children had this to say “my heart is overwhelmed with happiness seeing the number of graduates who have worked hard to complete their courses. I am so grateful for the opportunity that Seed of Hope gave me because am living a good life because the seed that was planted 10 years ago has bore good fruits that my family and I enjoy.”

She encouraged the 2018 graduating class to be proactive in looking for internship and job opportunities this festive season so that they can start to earn a living. Rachel was among the 15 former graduates from Kariti Seed of Hope centre who attended the ceremony. We wish all the 2018 graduates all the best as they go out to utilize their skills and make a living!

The impact that this programme has had in the lives of young women like Rachel would not have been possible without your generous giving! Thank you for supporting our Seed of Hope programme and helping us to give young women opportunity to fulfill their potential.

We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New year!

Our Seed of Hope programme has touched the heart of many families in Kenya through the transformation of young people who are empowered and equipped with skills for self-reliance and independent living. The young girls enrolled at Seed of Hope not only graduate with a certificate in their course of studies, they go out into the workplace equipped with business enterprise skills and life skills that enable them to excel in the job market. Families continue to refer young girls to Seed of Hope because their daughters have succeeded in life and changed their family situation for the better.

Seed of Hope graduate, Sneider, came from a humble background with her mother being the soul bread winner of a big family. She completed primary education with good grades but did not further her studies, as her mother could not afford to pay her secondary education. At the time most of her peers joined high school, she remained at home with no hope of continuing with education. Instead she decided to look for casual jobs to help her mother to meet their daily needs, believing that one day her luck would change. One day Sneider’s mother was going about in the neighbourhood looking for casual work, when she met woman who informed her about Seed of Hope where her own daughter had previously graduated with a certificate in Dressmaking and Fashion Design. She visited our Seed of Hope Nairobi centre with Sneider who was admitted to do the two-year Dressmaking and Fashion Design course! Sneider graduated and she got a job in a clothing design company where she has now worked in beading and jewellery design for 8 years!

Her life and that of her family’s has changed significantly over the years as she has been able to support her younger siblings by paying their school fees. She even opened her own craft shop to earn extra income. When I met her recently, she had brought her relative and neighbour’s daughter to Seed of Hope so that they too can gain skills. She said, “Seed of Hope turned my hopelessness to a better living. The programme gave me not only skills but confidence, discipline and determination to face life. I am forever grateful to all who have supported this programme over the years”.

You’re giving more girls like Sneider, hope…

The good news is that every year, more girls continue to enrol at Seed of Hope, while others graduate and get the opportunity to show case their skills in the competitive market place. This was evident recently when the Homecare Management students were put to a practical test in food production and services. For a whole week the students transformed their classrooms in to restaurants where they invited their family members and friends to dine and enjoy the good meals they prepared.

Elizabeth had invited her parents and relatives who came to see what their daughter had learned and after their three-course meal, her mother said “I am very proud of my daughter as she has become the best chef in my house because of Seed of Hope. I have now left the kitchen for her to take charge and during our women’s meetings she will be hired as our caterer”. The homecare management students will now go on a work placement before they graduate at the end of the year. We wish them all the best as they put their training skills into practice and gain more experience out there.

I would like to sincerely thank you for your continuous support towards Seed of Hope Programme because it is through your generous giving that we have been able to change the lives of many young girls like Snider and Elizabeth.

Maureen’s story…

Maureen and her 3 siblings did not have an easy life growing up in Kibera, one of the biggest slums in East and Central Africa. Life in the city slum was short lived after her father lost his job and the family moved back to the village on their small plot of land where they grew just enough food to feed themselves, hardly making ends meet. Maureen went to the local primary school and though she completed her primary education, she had no chance of joining high school as her parents could not afford to pay school fees. She was forced to help her mother in the farm, as this was the only source of livelihood for the family. For two years she lived in the village, Maureen was frustrated as she would see her former classmates going to high school while she continued to work on the farm or engage in menial jobs to earn a little income for the family.

Life in the village proved difficult for her and she pleaded with her parents to allow her go back with her older sister in Nairobi to look for casual jobs. They agreed and Maureen’s sister helped her secure house help job in one of the city suburbs where she worked for 3 years. Due to challenges she faced in the hands of employers, she left work and opted to get married and start a family at the age of 19 since she did not want to go back to the village.

Maureen was introduced to Seed of Hope programme by a friend and enrolled for a one year Homecare Management Course. At the weekend, she sells snacks to her neighbours but also does outside catering to generate extra income for her family’s upkeep. When asked how seed of Hope has changed her life she said “I am happy to have joined Seed of Hope because my dreams were shattered and I thought getting married will solve my problems but now I know that it is through the skills I have learned that will make my life much better. I also have confidence that will enable me to raise the living standards of my family.” Maureen plans to open a small café with the support of her husband and sisters after completing her course.

Other news…

In other news the second year students of dressmaking, fashion and fabric design course sat for their grade 3 test and are preparing for grade 2 in August from the National Industrial Training Authority. The government grade test is very important as it builds the students profile as they can advance their skills in any of the government technical training institutions but also get employed in the textile industries and fashion companies in Kenya. There is hope for each and every girl or young mother who joins Seed of Hope as it is not only the technical skills that they take back but their confidence is built and they are motivated to grow and advance in their studies.

Thank you…

All this would not be possible without your generous giving towards Seed of Hope. This project has made it possible for a young mother like Maureen and many other girls to build confidence, raise their self-esteem and have the opportunity for a prosperous and promising future.

Links:

• Seed of Hope helped Irene realise her self-worth