Safe futures - self-reliance for 675 Kenyan girls

The second term of school calendar has begun and Seed of Hope centres resumed learning in the second week of the may just like other tertiary institutions. Although there was low turnout of students on reporting day, the teachers made follow up with parents to ensure that the girls are back in school to continue with their skills training. During the Easter holiday when schools went for recess, few parents visited our Nairobi centre to inquire about Seed of Hope enrolment but requested them to come in May once the schools resume. Teacher Florence who is the Seed of Hope administrator says that it is difficult to turn down parents who are pleading for placement for their daughters much as some classes are in full capacity especially in one year courses like hair and beauty, homecare management and business administration. The dressmaking, fashion and fabric designs course had not enrolled a big number of girls and those like Eulalia who joined recently are very pleased to have an opportunity of a lifetime.

Eulalia is the newest girl at our Seed of Hope Nairobi centre as she was admitted in the beginning of the month after her mother and aunt came to plead for her admission since they were worried of her going in to depression. The story behind it is that Eulalia was living with her mother and two siblings in the coastal region of Kenya until she completed her primary education. Her father had remarried and moved to Nairobi leaving the mother to raise the children single-handedly. Life became difficult since the mother had no stable income to sustain the family. The father never supported them but after Eulalia sat for the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education in 2015, the father asked them to move to Nairobi with a promise of educating her through high school. With tears in her eyes, Eulalia narrates how happy she was to have joined secondary school in the first year but this was short lived as her father become non-committal in paying her school fees towards the end of the year. She tried to reach out to him when schools opened in January for her second year fees but the father told her that he is never going to pay for her school fees thus made Eulalia drop out of school. She had this to say “my dreams were shattered and I lost the meaning of life because I felt that nobody valued me”. Her mother got worried since her daughter who is suffering from sickle cell anaemia is falling to depression due to lack of fees and she tried all means to raise money for her to continue with school but she could not manage to get substantial amount to meet Eulalia education needs.Fortunately, her aunt was informed by a friend about Seed of Hope centre where girls like Eulalia have a chance to acquire skills in different courses free of charge. She informed the mother and they immediately came to ask for her placement as the girl was stressed out. As I sat down to interview Eulalia, she tells me that her tears of sadness have turned to joy as she is learning new skills like making mats and have met other girls who have gone through similar situation and are here to acquire knowledge and skills. She says that her hopes have been renewed as she is looking forward to learn new skills in dressmaking, fashion and fabric design, get empowered and take charge of her destiny. She said my goal is to work hard in my course of study, graduate and hopefully start my own business. I will save enough money from my business and once again go back to finish secondary school and advance my skills in fashion and design”.  I wish Eulalia and other first year girls all the best of luck in their pursuit of better life in the near future.

 Other news is that there has been a significant increase in the number of new students across the 4 centres which we attribute to good management, quality of training and the establishment of roots business for the graduates. In the past one month, 14 Roots Business have been established for girls who graduated in 2016. Two former graduated Nancy and Ruth from our Kisii centre started their dressmaking business from parental support and personal savings respectively. We had featured Ruth’s story in our November report and am glad to say that she is in the path of achieve her dreams of independent living and successful life.  These hardworking girls made a good impression to one of our great supporters who had come for a visit. Their enthusiasm to earn a living using the skills learned motivated him to donate £80 to each girl to invest in stocking their businesses. I believe that all our graduates are creating positive impact in the communities where they come from. The Seed of Hope Centre are preparing for skills camp to be held in the first week of July this time with focus on health and physical wellbeing. The second years are also preparing for their grade two test which will take place in August as they are now engaged more practical work.

On behalf of all the of Seed of Hope family, please accept our gratitude for your continuing support. We sincerely thank you for believing in our project because it is through your generous donation that girls like Eulalia, Ruth, Nancy and all the other girls find reasons to believe there is a brighter future awaiting them once they complete their training. I would like you to know that every donation that comes in helps to ensure that we continue to equip and empower our girls with relevant skills that will not only transform their lives but enable them raise the standards of living on their families.

Seed of Hope programme has come a long way in the journey of transformation of girls who had once lost hope in life as they come from disadvantage background. These can be measured by the number of graduates who have progressed in life through employment or self-employment after successfully completing their course of studies. But for the changes to happen, it begins with students knowing their purpose, show commitment and work hard in their training for the period of time the course takes.  The courses offered at Seed of Hope do not only focus on vocational skills training but also business enterprise, personal growth and development. All this is geared towards giving them hope, dignity and opportunity to be self-reliance hence raise their living standards.

I have had the opportunity to interact with both the current students and the graduates of Seed of Hope and what I keep affirming them is that these skills are relevant in the job market and what is needed is for them to focus on learning something new each day so that they can bring their own ideas into life as they pursue their dream careers. One such girl is Caroline who joined Seed of Hope Nairobi a week ago.

Caroline and her sister were raised by their father since she was 9 years old after her mother passed on. Her father depended on farming to cater for her children’s needs but the income he got after every harvest was not sustainable to the family.  This led Caroline to drop out of secondary school while in form two as her father could not afford to pay her school fees. In the same year of 2015, she came to Nairobi to live with an aunt who needed a helper to care for her little baby when she goes back to work. Caroline became the nanny although this was not something she had dreamed of hence led her in to depression as she wanted to go back to school and complete her studies. When we spoke, I asked her what her dream was while growing up and this is what she said. “I love nursing. This is because as I was growing up, I saw how my mum struggled with a terminal illness that needed special care thus prompted me to study nursing after high school so that I could take care of sick people. But after I dropped out, I felt like my dreams have been shattered”

Two weeks ago, her aunt attended a meeting called by the area chief. The meeting was to mobilize people in the community to come out and register as voters. It was at that time that she learned about Seed of Hope from the one of the community mobilizers. She went home and asked Caroline if she would be interested to join a vocational training school. She said “I was Overwhelmed with joy since I had given up in life as I had nothing to show off as a school drop out!”  She accompanied her aunt to Seed of Hope Centre in Nairobi and got admission in Home Care Management course. This is because the course was in line with the kind of work she has been doing and she thought that if she was going to achieve her childhood dreams, she needed to focus on becoming great by equipping herself with skills that willl enable her to earn a living and become independent. Caroline knows that her family will not be able to take her back to school but during our conversation I gave her examples of girls that I have met who graduated from Seed of Hope but later went back to complete secondary education. Five have graduated from different universities with degrees while 10 went to colleges and they are currently pursuing their dream careers. I encouraged her to focus on her skills training now as it is the first of many opportunities she will have in life as she works towards her dream to become a nurse. I believe her dream is valid and she will to achieve it in the near future.

The number of new enrolment has significantly increased from 140 to 215 in the last few weeks. The window period of enrolment will be closed in March to allow few more girls to join in although the training had already begun. The orientation of new student began in mid-January across all the centres after a good number of girls reported and as a result, they settled quickly to begin their lessons. Some of these girls were selected by teachers to play various roles in the management of the institution as they portrayed good leadership qualities.

Purity is such a gir. She is confident, social and a quick learner hence elected as the class representative in the Dressmaking, Fashion and Fabric Design class. She completed high school but with poor grades since she was in and out of school due to lack of school fees. Her father who is a pastor in a local church does not have a source of income to cater for his six children hence depend on well-wishers to support his family. He came to Seed of Hope to request for her daughter’s admission since he had nothing else to offer her because Purity has other four siblings who are still in school and paying for their school fees is still a struggle. When I talked to Purity she had this to say. “I want to be a great designer after completing this course. I am so grateful to Seed of Hope for this opportunity to acquire skills free of charge which has motivated me to work hard so that I can go out there and start my business so as to support my family. I hope that one day when i become financially stable, I will resit for my high school exams so that i can go to university to study Fashion and Design so that i can also be one of the top designers in Kenya"

Thank you for your support because it is through your generous giving towards Seed of Hope that has made it possible for the girls like Caroline, Purity and many other girls to raise their confidence, self-esteem through the opportunity given to them so as to have a bright and promising future.  We believe that they have potential to transform their lives and also raise the living standards of their families. The also have potential to create positive impact wherever they go!