Empowerment Hub for Teenage Mothers

Once upon a time was a girl called Lilian from Homabay She enrolled for our project this Year in January 2019,  The following is HER STORY

My story

I come from a vulnerable family with a single mum after my parents separated because of domestic violence and alcohol abuse. I was is born in a family of eight children and I am the third born in our family. My mum has a small business of selling clothes or homemade soaps during market days in our village in Dhiwa. I dropped out of school in class 8 due to lack of school fees and got pregnant at the age of 15 years. I have a two-year daughter who lives with my aunt whom I was helping with house chores during my pregnancy and after I delivered. I had to seek refuge at her place after my father discovered I was pregnant. I have Constantly experienced emotional abuse several times, one day my father hit me with a machete and made me flee to safety at my aunt’s place the scar always reminds me of that bad experience and struggles as a young girl who made a mistake of getting pregnant as teenager. Until today I has never gone back to our home since the incident but am hopping one day, I will be able to forgive my father and reunite with them. At my aunties place it has never been that easy too even though she tried all the time to provide for me and my child.

I came to know about this program initiated by Community Focus Group from a friend, I had lost hope in life and had tried to find ways to go back to school but it was all in vain. At first, I didn’t have confidence that I can learn the skills in 6 months and be able to use the skill and earn a living. Even i asked my trainer if its possible. I was so raw in hair dressing but still I had a passion. Since an opportunity had presented itself, I decided to take up the challenge and make the best out of the opportunity and my time.

Impact

This program has been an eye opener to me as a teen mother that everything is possible. The only thing you need to do is to believe in yourself and take any opportunity that has given you to learn a skill for your own good. After the six month I have learnt a lot in hairdressing skills like braiding, hair treatment and set, hair weaving, dreadlocks and many more. My self-esteem and confidence have improved and I feel like I am a new person. Now I have good communication skills and I have learnt to handle clients and ensure their need are met adequately am grateful that sometimes we are given a commission from every client we have attended too. Am a changed person and I believe my dreams will come true one day.

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Sincerely

Pamela Ateka

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This is a story of one of the girls 

My story

I was born in a family of 7 children and I am the second born child. My mother is widow and my father has been an absentee dad and he passed on when I was very young girl I can’t recall the year. At this moment my mother is the only soul bread winner and doesn’t have a stable formal employment to sustain our family. I have always assisted my mum in tilling other people’s land during the planting season to earn a living to cater for our needs which sometimes is a seasonal job. I have also washed clothes for people to earn extra money when the planting seasons have ended my total earning per day was 2 dollars. As a student I was constantly repeating classes or missing school because of lack of school fees since most of the time my mum could not afford tuition fee that the school required us to pay even though it was a small amount she could raise it on time because of many responsibilities. Due to frustration I involved myself in a relationship with a form 4 student from a different school nearby. I got pregnant when I was in class 7 with 16 years and then dropped out of school. When I was pregnant the father of my child took me to his parent’s home to stay there as I wait to deliver because he had no means to support me since he was a student too. My life became worse especially when I started living with the parents of the father of my child. I lived with them in their village and life was very challenging until I gave birth. I had no choice but to become a maid in that house because I had no option and was living at their mercy since I had no place to go. I knew i had disappointed my mum so much when I remembered how much sacrifices and efforts she made to ensure there was food on the table and taking us to school. I would cry all the time and felt like I was in a trapped environment with no hope that one day I will get out of my situation. Due to constant frustration i left that place went back to my mother’s house after my daughter was 7months.My mother accepted me back home after being angry with for delivering a child at a very young age and yet I knew how she was struggling as a sole bread winner with seven kids. My baby is two-year old now and I have to take care of her fully. It has been challenging for me to raise my only daughter and it forced  me to join my mother doing odd jobs to fend for my daughter and my other sibling after I realized there is no other option left for me to gain any formal employment or skills to start a business.

Impact

I was introduced by my mother’s friend to this program initiated by Community Focus Group and I was determined to do my best gain enough experience and skills in hairdressing. I was worried at first if I was going to catch up and learn within the six month period, since it was my first time to learn a new skill I haven’t done in my life.

This program has helped me a lot. After I finished the course for 6months my trainer offered me an internship at her salon for two months to practice my skills and at the same time I was plaiting cornrows and selling to salons and beauty shops. I have also been plaiting client in different salon and paid by commission. Recently, I have been employed at Elegance salon and I am thankful for Community Focus Group for giving me this opportunity to acquire adequate skills of hair dressing .I am confident now that I can handle clients effectively in the salon without a challenge. In addition, this program has also enabled me to earn an honest living for my child and help my younger siblings get education that I did not have the opportunity to acquire.

Hobbies

Playing football and marathons.

Links:

• https://www.benevity.com
• facebook