Give a Fresh Start to Young Women in Prostitution

Jane (name changed to protect her identity) is one the women in the current Malkia cohort. Here's her story. I live alone with one of my children. The other two children live with their grandmother from the father's side because we broke up with their father, and I couldn’t afford to care for all of them. I rent a house for which I pay 2000 Kenyan shillings. I work the streets at night because of my current living condition.

My mom died in 2014 due to mental health issues, which affected me psychologically. It wasn't easy for me to accept the reality that my mom is no more .since there, my life has changed completely. I started using drugs to ease my mind, but the stress was getting worse and worse. 

My dream is to quit working in prostitution and start a new life because I do like selling my body to every man. An angel sent the Malkia program to come and transform my life. Since we started the sessions, I have learned so much about my identity and the things that I should love and embrace in myself. In training about drug and substance abuse, I learned how dangerous drugs are and how they harm my body. I also want to quit drugs, and I have begun that journey. I will be taking advantage of the one-on-one counseling sessions that Malkia provides to share my journey with the counselor. My life has become more precious because of everything I am learning; therefore, I can’t imagine how it will be in the next two years. I am curious to learn new skills that will help me be independent and transform from the person I am today.

I hope that this story shows you how your generosity is supporting multigenerational healing for women in Kenya.