Safe futures - self-reliance for 675 Kenyan girls

Each new year at Seed of Hope begins with a flurry of activity as our teaching team work hard to enrol new students.  Since January we have enrolled 191 girls who have joined our vocational training to acquire knowledge and skills in different courses of their choice. There are several new courses that were introduced so that we could attract many young girls to join Seed of Hope – such as Business Administration, Basic Computing, Hairdressing and Beauty Therapy, Agribusiness and metal work.

The enrolment process is facilitated by our work in the community through our outreach ‘Empowerment Clubs’.  These clubs are run by Seed of Hope staff in the communities surrounding our centres.  They help us to identify and build relationships with disadvantaged girls in the community in order to prepare them for enrolment at Seed of Hope. 

Some of these Empowerment Clubs target young mothers who have been forced to drop out of education because of their pregnancies.  These young mothers have pleaded with the management of Seed of Hope that they might be given a chance to make something out of their difficult situation. Many of the young mothers are forced into early marriages according to traditional beliefs while others were rejected and sent away by their families.

In addition to new courses at Seed of Hope Centres, a pilot program that goes by the name Amuka was introduced at our Nairobi centre. Amuka means ‘Wake Up’ or ‘Rise Up’ in Swahili. This is a two week program designed to help the students develop self-awareness, build their self-confidence and helps them to explore their purpose whilst developing core values.  This was extremely successful and, as a result, will be rolled out to all the centres in the coming year. 

• 79% of students say that the training opportunities currently offered by Seed of Hope are exactly what they need
• 66% say they feel empowered by the opportunities granted at Seed of Hope
• 90% say they feel ready to reach for their goals

The students have already taken on leadership roles within Seed of Hope as a result.  Hearing from previous graduates had a significant impact as it has helped them to see the possibilities and increased their confidence in themselves and the opportunities ahead of them.

There’s so much happening at Seed of Hope!  It’s an exciting place to be!  There’s not much space to mention them here but a couple of other highlights have been:

• Enrolment of the first girls in our Motor Vehicle Mechanic Vocational Training program
• Visiting Catering lecture Lynette Mair who did a series of practical workshops with our Homecare students
• Welcoming new teachers to the team to help teach the new courses.

 The work of Seed of Hope exists because We Believe in Girls!  We believe in their potential to change the world, their potential to shape brighter futures for themselves and their potential to create positive impact wherever they go!  If you believe in these young girls, we’d love for you to get involved in the work of Seed of Hope!  Global Giving have two special bonus days coming up.  The first is for our friends and partners in the UK – it launches on Monday 2^nd March at 2pm GMT and you have the chance to have your donations matched with an extra 50%.  Global Giving will add 50% to all donations up to £500!  This campaign will run for one week but get in early before matching funds run out.  Donations must be made through Global Giving UK, not the US site! 

But don’t worry – if you’re in the US, you’ll have your chance!  The bonus day for our friends and partners in the US is March 18^th!  We’ll send you more details nearer the time.

Please consider making a donation as part of these bonus days!  Your giving really does go a long way.  Every little helps!

Thank you all for your ongoing support of our work!