Educate & Empower 1200 Girls in the Nairobi Slums

Am  Dorcas and 26 years old and was born in mailisaba.  I went to school at mailisaba primary school where I finished my primary education in 2006.I passed my exams so well and was so eager to join High School. I got a letter of admission to High school but my mother was not able to pay for my school fees because she was into porridge vending business which could not sustain us and my two siblings.  This led me into desperation seeing my friends going to school as I stayed at home.

In early 2007 got peer pressured by my friends who had escaped from their home and went to live in the streets.  I escaped from home and joined them. I was introduced to street life. I started smoking cigarettes, bhang, drinking alcohol and doing prostitution to get money to sustain my new addiction. Other times we would steal from people after drugging them or pick pocketing.

 My mother’s efforts to bring me back   didn’t bear fruit because I had really changed my ways and street life was my new way of life.

I lived in the streets for one year and within that year I had contracted sexually transmitted diseases and infections several times ,had been beaten severally by street boys and gang raped, had slept in police cells for a whole month, and what scared me most was witnessing one of my friends being killed by her street boyfriend in the street. I feared that I would be the next. Life became much difficult than it was when I was living at home. I became helpless when I realized I was pregnant and for sure didn’t know the father of the child. I was left with no other option than to go back home to my mother. I thought she would not accept me back but to my surprise she welcomed me back home. She forgave me and took care of me until I delivered at home with the assistance of a mid-wife since we could not afford money for Pre-natal and post-natal clinics. The baby developed complications with her health due to my lifestyle and she passed on. Since I wanted to change my life I went to church and shared my story with the social worker who introduced me to safe spaces program.

 I started attending safe spaces programs in early 2010. I was still under the influence of drugs since I was addicted, sometimes I could steal money from my mother or sell household items in order to get money for drugs. At safe spaces I found many girls who had also gone through other challenges in their lives and wanted to change and so I found new friends. We went through life skills sessions, Reproductive health sessions and counseling sessions that helped me to make the ultimate decision in my life to become a new person. I stopped taking drugs and decided to begin my life afresh. I would spend most of my time in safe spaces reading, helping small kids, sharing my past life as a caution and playing games. I became so comfortable and regretted wasting my past years. I wanted to do something meaningful with my life and live positively.

In January 2012, Safe spaces gave me an opportunity to learn Auto mechanics. I took my lessons seriously and finished my Certificate and diploma course in 2014. I got an internship at Mark General Spares Limited located in industrial area Nairobi in 2015. I was so efficient with my work that most clients preferred my services and the clientele base for the company increased. In 2016 I was permanently employed as the senior sales manager, given a company house located at Fedha Estate and allowances. In 2017, I supported my mother with capital to start a cereals business  to  support her and my siblings. I also relocated them to a safe neighborhood in pangani estate.

I don’t have a family of my own and am not in hurry to get married. I want to be a role model to other girls in the community and build my life first.

I did not get the chance to go to high school but safe spaces gave me a pillar to restart my life and dream it again, now am comfortable and happy.

My advice for the other girls is that they should be obedient to their parents, be focused with what they want to achieve with their lives and never let themselves succumb to peer pressure. I don’t know if I would be alive today if I continued with my street life and am one of the lucky girls to get this Safe spaces opportunity.

I personally thank safes spaces organization and their friends and the donors for giving me hope and a chance to be the change that I am today and also trusting and believing in me, this made me believe in myself more and now am a better person which is a great achievement in my Life.