Safe futures - self-reliance for 675 Kenyan girls

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!