Gender Equality Zimbabwe Project #21150

Give education & training to Zimbabwean girls

by Zimbabwe Educational Trust (ZET)

Give education & training to Zimbabwean girls

Project Report | Feb 13, 2017
Rafiki Winter Update

By Hannah O'Riordan | Project Leader

Rafiki has had a very successful few months as the courses for the January and July 2016 progressed, with students excelling in their personal and vocational training, and enjoying the benefits of a number of extra curricular activities.

28 trainees successfully completed their course in September. There were 10 graduates in Hotel and Catering, 5 graduates in Cutting and Design, 5 graduates in Interior Design, 4 graduates in Nursery School Teaching, 4 graduates in Nurse Aide Training and 3 graduates in Cosmetology. 13 of these graduates have gone onto further employment, with 4 currently on a work placement.

A further 31 students have completed their first three months of the course, developing their confidence and personal skills and have elected their vocational course for the final six months. 9 students chose Cutting and Design, 9 chose Hotel and Catering, 4 chose Nursery School Teaching, 4 chose Nurse Aide Training, 3 chose Interior Design, 2 chose Cosmetology.

Beyond their studies, the girls went for an educational trip to Pasichigare cultural resort, visiting sites of immense environmental or cultural value and having the opportunity to not only learn, but enjoy good food, games and activities to relax. The owner of the resort offered to employ a Rafiki graduate due to the Centre’s continued support for this resort and the high calibre of the students whenever they visit. A week later, former Rafiki graduate Lydia Jaricha was employed and moved to the resort.

Rafiki organized another HIV awareness workshop in September, on the theme “ZERO TO 90% which 92 people attended. The aim is to reduce the prevalence of the HIV pandemic, by working towards the target of 90% of people knowing their status, and 90% of people living with HIV taking medication or seeking treatment. Peter Kamusiya from the Aids Counselling Trust was the key speaker for this event, discussing HIV, the importance of knowing your HIV status, other STIs and the importance of not having unprotected sex.

Other speakers included young women living with HIV, who spoke on the importance of accepting your HIV status, taking your medication, and how being HIV positive does not have to stop you from living life to the full.

The January 2017 intake recruitment took place in October and overwhelmed Rafiki staff. A total of 450 young women applied in person, with many more applications calling the Centre to express their interest. Of these, 150 were interviewed, but due to budget constraints, only 32 girls could be selected for training.

Rafiki Girls Centre went accidentally viral last Autumn, through word of mouth and and on social media. Hundreds of people from all over the country came to visit the centre, many of whom unfortunately had to be turned away due to staff and budget limitations. With so many applicants wanting to change their lives, Rafiki is considering how it can expand the programme in order to accommodate more less-privileged girls into the programme especially considering the need that was shown by the coming of many girls to seek for training, but the Centre will need more funds to achieve this.

Of the new intake, all volunteered for an HIV test after a long counselling session working through their anxieties about this. Two of the new trainees are HIV positive, and are receiving help and support from local medical professionals and Rafiki staff to manage their status whilst excelling at the course.

Rafiki has also been working to expand its network with other organisations to build sustainable social change, including other civil society organisations providing opportunities for the disadvantaged, and organisations and companies who may be able to provide training or opportunities to their students. These include Reformed Youth Alive, CrossOver, and Soroptimist.

It is ZET and Rafiki’s wish and desire to train many girls and give hope to the helpless and hopeless. We hope that readers will continue to support our vision and enable us to increase our intakes and the number of girls trained per year.

Permalink

Dec 6, 2016
Rafiki Autumn Update

By Richard Corbett | Volunteer

Autumn has been a successful period for the Rafiki project with girls and young women continuing their personal and vocational education. ZET and the Rafiki Girls’ Centre would like to thank all of our GlobalGiving.org supporters for their generosity.

The January 2016 intake graduated at a colourful ceremony that was held on October 29. 4 girls graduated in nursery school teaching, 4 in nurse aide course, 9 in hotel and catering, 3 in cosmetology and these are actively using the skills acquired, 3 in interior designing and 4 in cutting and designing. Some of the girls continue to work from home whilst others have already found paid employment.

Currently, the class of July 2016 have now begun the vocational part of their course having completed their initial course in life skills and feminine hygiene. These 31 girls have now attended an open day to help parents and guardians understand the role Rafiki plays, a careers day to help the girls understand the different courses available to them, and an educational trip to Pasichigare.

Alongside learning new vocational skills, the girls have also been involved in an HIV workshop that promoted awareness with two speakers explaining how they have managed to live positively despite being HIV positive. Voluntary testing has also been undertaken with 31 girls volunteering to be tested. None of the girls tested positive except the three girls who already knew about their test. One of the girls has shown great improvement and confidence after she realised that there are so many people who are living with the disease and that in spite of the disease they can still smile.

With its continuing success, Rafiki girls centre has received record amounts of applications and continues to strive to offer as many girls who are in need the opportunity to break the cycle of poverty through education.

Links:

The Zimbabwe Educational Trust website

Permalink

Aug 30, 2016
Rafiki Summer Update

By Hannah O'Riordan | Project Leader

Rafiki has had a very successful quarter and we would like to thank our supporters on Global Giving for their very generous support. Recently we met our original fundraising target on Global Giving, and thanks to you have been able to raise this target to support even more young women to develop their skills and transform their lives.

The centre continues to offer nine month courses to cohorts of young women, boosting their social, practical and vocational skills and rounding their students into confident, successful women with the tools to lift themselves out of poverty.

The 2015 class graduated at the end of May, with 100% of students passing their courses. Even though these 29 young women graduated less than three months ago, 13 have already gone into employment, 2 have successfully set up their own business, and one is enjoying motherhood.

The 2016 class has now seen 31 young women enrolled into vocational or educational courses, and 27 of these women have already started their training. These girls have also enjoyed extra-curricular activities, such as a visit to the cultural and historical sites at Pasichigare Resort and a Career’s Day, offering invaluable workshops on how to impress at job interviews and in the workplace, and with a number of professional partners and speakers.

Rafiki continues to support young women with HIV, offering HIV testing and running counselling and workshops for its students, aimed at getting young women to open up about HIV and surrounding issues, and break down stigmas and prejudices associated with positive status.

The young women at Rafiki have continued to make dresses, fabric-wares, table mats and cushions during their studies at Rafiki. They intend to sell these to a wider market in Zimbabwe and globally, and Rafiki in collaboration with ZET have been looking into the market for this, with a hope to expand into this during the next quarter.

Permalink

‹ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 ›

About Project Reports

Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.

If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can recieve an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.