Project Report
| Sep 5, 2020
Upholding Academic Excellence during the Pandemic!
By Trizah Waiyaki | Operations and Development Director
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One of the devastating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic has been school closure which has exposed children to increased risk of sexual and other form of abuse. Many children in the communities we serve are living with abusing relatives or have been exposed to unsafe working conditions to help supplement the family's income. In Kenya, more than 30,000 teenage pregnancies have been recorded during the pandemic. All these factors have made it nearly impossible for these children to continue with their studies.
At Freely in Hope, we have modified our programs to cater for our community's changing needs. We have moved our scholars into a live-in safe house, providing meals, individualized tutoring and mentorship. This has not only protected our girls from exposure to sexual violence but it has also allowed them to continue pursuing their academic dreams in the midst of the pandemic. We have also distributed over 1,500 resource cards with information on how to identify, prevent and report sexual violence to high school students, with incredible feedback on how helpful the information has been.
We are greatful for our community of donors who's generosity continues to make it possible for us to provide this much needed support to our scholars allowing them to achieve academic excellence even during this pandemic.
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May 8, 2020
Advocates in our Communities!
By Trizah Waiyaki | Operations and Development Director
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COVID-19 has tested all of us in many ways. One of the more devastating ways it is testing us is a surge in violence against women and children which is being reported globally. The measures that our Government(s) has taken to contain the spread of the disease including encouraging people to work from home, school closure, instituting a 7 pm to 5 am curfew among others have escalated isolation for women and girls who are now more exposed to violence with dimished access to the resources that would help them at this time. More than a third of the cases being filed in our courts are sexual offenses cases and domestic violence cases reported to the national GBV helpline have increased by more than half.
At our Eneza Club for high school students that we began earlier this year, we handed out hundreds of resource cards that provided information on sexual assault reporting systems. Even though we are not conducting this program in our high schools at this time, the resource cards are still supporting the community in helping them be proactive in cases of abuse. These students have become advocates in their communities where cultural mindsets have continued to perpetuate violence. With the information they received on how to prevent sexual violence and how to support a survivor we're hopeful that they are providing much needed help for their communities at this time.
Thanks to your generous donations, we were bale to print these resource cards that are providing life saving information to our communities during this pandemic!
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Jan 13, 2020
Impacting the Community!
By Trizah Waiyaki | Operations and Development Director
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A magical moment happened when we were on our way to one of the schools for a session. When signing up at the gate, there was a woman seated with the guard. She boldly asked,’are you the team that teaches students about violence?’. We were all surprised and wondered how she knew about us and so I went ahead and said yes we are, hoping we had not gotten into any kind of trouble.
She stood up, walked towards us and shook our hands and said she is aware of the work that we are doing in the classroom. Her daughter who is part of our Violence Prevention Club usually shares with her what we’ve been teaching them especially on the importance of consent and being socially aware of our environment so as to prevent violence. She congratulated us and encouraged us to keep doing what we do in those classrooms because we are helping the parents raise respectful and responsible men and women.
We were filled with joy and gratitude knowing that our work, through your generous giving was actually meeting its purpose of not only impacting the students but also their parents and the community at large.
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