Empowerment Hub for Teenage Mothers

 The 100 girls training program has contributed a lot in the lives of teen mothers in Homabay county. The program’s main objective is to develop skills of teen mothers who have dropped out of school by imparting them with skills on hairdressing, tailoring, beauty, catering, basketry and jewelry making. The process and the training has brought a lot of impact in the lives of these teen mothers in a span of   months . The Homabay Cohorts Homabay recruited 4 participants at a hairdressing program which began on 1st of March at Elegance hair salon and their instructor is Ms Omolo the owner of the salon and a professional in hairdressing and beauty.

Majority of the teenage mothers joined the training with no experience in this field and only of the them had a talent in braiding but had no professional training on hair dressing. At the orientation sessions the young women had very low self esteem and lacked confidence and self-awareness. There was need to enhance their self esteem and confidence within themselves by encouraging group discussions to share their experiences and challenges as teen mothers. The training session begins at 9am to 5pm from Monday to Saturday and the hairdressing skills to learn include Customer care Etiquette Service pricing Wash and set Weaving Dread locks Cornrows braiding Plaiting Hair Treatment and Retouch The teen mothers have shown consistence and keenness in their learning process and work so far. The instructor has also highlighted there are at times she has allowed them to offer some services to customers directly to monitor their learning progress which has brought forth promising results.

Their self-esteem, self-awareness and confidence has improved impeccably in the long ran. In addition, they have improved their communications skills and expertise in hairdressing. One of the teen mothers said “I have become so good in cornrows braiding skill, these is just enough for me to supply to the local hair salons and beauty shops and earn a living for myself and my child”. One of the teen mothers however went for a maternity leave and she developed complications during delivery and had to undergo caesarean section. She gave birth to a baby boy who in 1 months’ time develop hydrocephalus and unfortunately the infant died after being referred to several hospitals and the condition couldn’t be treated.Indeed the 100girls program is working and bringing hope to teenage mothers.