Women Up

I hope your year begun on a high note, just like we did. We received this news from GlobalGiving and I was excited to share it with you since you made this happen.

In 2019, you helped us Raised $2,683 on GlobalGiving to fund our vital work, $353 of which was raised by the GlobalGiving team through bonus prizes, matching money, corporate partnerships, gift card redemptions, and/or our marketing efforts! GlobalGiving has driven more funds to Green-Kenya than charged in fees, making our effective fee 0%!. We activated you to support our work on GlobalGiving.

You help to raise an average of $75 from each donation this year. With your help, we raised $2,250 in recurring donations from 2 monthly merge15. Exchanged knowledge and built connections with peers around the world by participating in the Peer Learning Network.

 In celebration of our joint hard work, GlobalGiving created these badges for us to post on your organization’s website, social media and email signature. Just to let the hard work sink in.

Using these selected badges, we can share with you and the world that Green-Kenya has been vetted by GlobalGiving, was actively engaged in the community and was a top-ranked organization in 2019! We hope that publicly sharing our badge will help us continue to gain the recognition that we deserve as a trusted partner and change-maker in the world.

We also received the GlobalGiving Staff Favorite badge, because Green-Kenya was selected by someone from GlobalGiving as their favorite! This is indicated on Green-Kenya project pages and it will show up under the GlobalGiving Staff Favorite search feature.

And because a member of Green-Kenya filled out all three Listen, Act, and Learn steps of at least one Effectiveness Cycle in GG Rewards, we’ve earned the Effective badge. Thank you for your support in 2019, you are part of these success and we look forward to tag along in 2020!

With Passion and Dedication.

Mulo!!

Links:

• Green-Kenya website

We have had a wonderful time having sessions with the adolescent girls on and off the schools, we have had an opportunity to be joined by two amazing young ladies, Neola and Sophie, both of them have the passion to mentor the girls in their communities and they have chosen Girls Up as their entry point to make a difference.

This is the shortest term in the school calendar, about 7 weeks before the schools are closed, with a lot of activities , this meant less time with the girls, this is because of demanding school work that took some of the weekend time.We have have 33 sessions that touched on sexual relationships, including pregnancy, STD’s and HIV/Aids, menstrual cycle and how can one keep themselves clean during the days.

There are engagements with young professional female lawyers who wants  to have a one on one mentorship with the teenage girls. As a result, the female professionals will be coming to talk to the girls about choosing career, and what it takes to be who you want in life, among other topics

One of the highlights of this term is that, one of the girls who used to attend Wasichana Juu sessions in Mukuru has finally agreed to go back to school, Nanjala who is not her real name decided to go back and rewind a class so that she can do her Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) in 2020. Nanjala who is 15 years, was supposed to do KCPE this year but she was not able to because she was not registered as a candidate. She had given up with school due to peer pressure from other adolescent girls

After having lengthy talk with teacher Damaris, who is one of their mentors, she finally agreed to go to Class 7 this year so that she can prepare well for the final exam come October 2020.

Nanjala has become a beacon of hope to her community coaches and we hope that she will motivate her peers to work hard in school and decide their destiny.

Wasichana Juu is a weekly, 2-hour Sport for Development program that runs 4 times per year, each session is between 6 – 8 weeks (weather permitting).  We provide an opportunity for girls (aged 9 – 19) to participate in a guided open dialogue of health (physical, sexual, psychological), safety (personal, environmental) and leadership (effective leaders, inclusivity, public speaking) while engaging in physical activity.

We are thrilled to announce that our last session, running May 25 – June 22, 2019 has seen a 400% increase in attendance from the February 9 – March 16, 2019 session.  Our addition of incorporating a Girls Football League has seen our numbers grow from 23 to 90 young women participating in our Saturday program.  Our mini-league has 6 teams that compete every Saturday and then participate in the discussion group.   

We have engaged the girls in discussions about the consequences of drug and alcohol abuse, education regarding healthy and abnormal menstrual cycles and when to seek medical attention, and the potential risks of entering into sexual relationships, including pregnancy, STD’s and HIV/Aids.

We try to empower the young women, show them that knowledge is power.  Having the young women be able to make educated decisions around the social pressures they face is a step forward in the right direction.  We emphasise that through education they will have more opportunities to better support their families, have more enriched relationships and be able to make informed life decisions.

We will continue to focus our program in two slums of Nairob; Mukuru Kwa Njena and Shauri Moyo and are preparing ourselves for the next 400% increase.

We look forward to the next few months and see where the girls lead us.

Links:

• Our Website

Wasichana Juu is weekly, 2-hour Sport for Development session that runs for 30 weeks, open to any young woman (aged 9 – 19 years).  Our program provides an opportunity for girls to participate in a guided open dialogue of health (physical, sexual, psychological), safety (personal, environmental) and leadership (effective leaders, inclusivity, public speaking) while engaging in physical activity.

We focus our program in two slums of Nairob; Mukuru kwa Njena and Shauri Moyo. The difficulties faced by adolescent women in developing countries are magnified due to limited access to education, unstable social and economical environments and poor sanitation and healthcare. In the slums, there is the addition of crime, drug abuse and prostitution. Families live in 1 room corrugated shacks, few with electricity.  Multiple families will share communal water taps and toilets.  Living every day in such circumstances can lead to behaviors that compromise their health and safety and often lead to early marriage, unplanned pregnancy, criminal activities and abandoned education.

From January 26 through March 16, 2019 we have reached 21 young women between the ages of 10 and 16; 30% of participants are 13 years of age.  We have held 7 sessions, with a variety of discussions about Drug and Alcohol Abuse, Personal Hygiene, The Menstrual Cycle, Sexual Reproductive Health and HIV & AIDS. 

The young women have shown genuine interest in learning about how they, as women, can take control of their lives and how they can guide their own futures.  We emphasise that through education they will have more opportunities to better support their families, have more enriched relationships and be able to make informed life decisions.

At this age, girls are very curious about boys, so it is important that we teach them about sexuality; to be honest about the potential consequences of entering into sexual relationships.  We talk about STD’s, HIV/AIDS, pregnancy as well as domestic abuse.  We recognize that youth do not respond to fear alone; we talk to them about what healthy relationships look like; any relationship, whether with friends, families or boyfriends, should be based on mutual trust and respect.   No beneficial relationship will be influenced by intimidation, coercion or fear.

Our weekly discussions are lively, and we have seen the girls really open up.  They want to be heard and listened to without judgement.  We have a rule that all questions are relevant, we learn by asking questions.  By providing a forum for young women to ask anything and everything we are shaping them to become involved in their education and teaching them that they are not alone in their curiosity about sexual health.

We look forward to the next few months and see where the girls lead us.