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.