Educate and Empower 18,000 Girls in Zimbabwe

Right now in the Agros Farm and Vocational Skills Training Program, we have 19 wonderful and hardworking girls. Two of these girls are a part of the Training Program’s sister project, ‘She Can’. ‘She Can’ is a program designed to rescue 14-17 year old girls out of sex work/child sexual exploitation. The girls are given counseling  and have their choice of vocational training programs. Two of these girls, let us call them Mary and Sarah, opted for the year-long agricultural training program rather than the quicker and supposedly easier, hairdressing or catering programs. Mary comes from a family that has struggled under the poverty line and the female figures in her life have had to be the ones to make ends meet. For her, having agricultural training means having possibilities that those before her didn’t have the opportunity to have. Sarah fell into sex work when she was 15 and had to quit school because her father could no longer afford her school fees. For Sarah, this agricultural program gives her a second chance to learn.

It is now the end the Agros farm training and planting season. Thus far Mary and Sarah have gained experience in pig husbandry, chicken rearing, vegetable production, and market pricing. The girls have the rest of the year to hone in their skills, find their passions, and prepare for life after the program. Instead of needing to fall back into sex work and exploitation, these girls have a whole new horizon of possibilities available to them. They can start their own business, work for a company, rear chickens and do a small agricultural plot at home, or continue their studies. What was once a clear narrow-roaded trajectory is now a wide field of opportunity. There are many young women just like Mary and Sarah, who simply need the chance to break new ground; and it is for these girls that the Agros Training Program exists.

The team here at the American Foundation for Children with AIDS thanks you for supporting this project and the work we do for the children in Africa.  If you would like to learn even more about what we do or how you can meet some of the children you have helped, please contact Tanya Weaver at tweaver@AFCAids.org.