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Community Focus Group International

Train 100 Young Women to Gain Skills in Kenya

The 100 Girls Project began in Feb. 2017. 100 Girls Project seeks to: Inspire, Mentor, Empower, and Rehabilitate 100 Teenage Mothers to enable them access to Motivational and Educational Opportunities through Training and Skill-Building.

Challenge

Four hundred Adolescent Girls give birth daily, in our beautiful Country Kenya, and an estimated seventy thousand are expelled from School every year because of Pregnancy. Our Project provides vulnerable Teenage Mums with Reproductive Health  Information, life-Skills, and Training on Small-Scale Business to enable them to become economically Self-Sufficient. Community Focus Group (CFG)​ also builds their Self-Esteem, Communication, and Decisions-Making Skills to ensure they are not vulnerable to Sexual Abuse and are capable of making better decisions in the future because we believe when they get to know better they will do better.

Solution

Our Project provides opportunity for Remedial Lessons to enable them to resume Classes, get back to School to sit for their Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (K.C.P.E.) or Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (K.C.S.E.), they also have Hands-On Training Skills in Hairdressing, Beauty, Cooking/Baking, and Entrepreneurship to ensure that the Teenage Mothers Launch, Market, and Sustain their business. We also have Workshops on Sexuality to build their Decision-Making Skills.  

Long-Term Impact

We will Mentor, Motivate, Rehabilitate, and Equip 1,000 teenage mothers with Educational, Leadership, Economic, and Life-Skills to ensure they are able to increase their Self-Esteem, Solidify their Incomes, and have the Skills to make informed Sexual Decisions in the future and aspire to have better structured Brighter Future for Themselves and their Children.

Current Situation

We have Four Teenage Mothers who are currently being trained in Hairdressing and 51 of them are in the waiting list, enthusiastic about being enrolled in the Program and having access to the Skills Training. We have the Opportunity to move to a bigger Working Space area where we can be Train and Equip the Girls with Skills in the Centre, therefore we require Money for Renting the space, buying 10 Computers, Printer, Scanner, Photocopy Machine, Generator, Projector, Tables, Chairs, and paying for the Administrative Expenses, Trainers, and Staff Salaries.  

Step One

We plan to start by having a Kitchen, Training Room, Crèche, and Dining Room.

Kitchen​: This will be the space for Cooking Lessons, Baking, and Feeding Program for the Girls, Children, and the Poor People in the Community. In this Kitchen the Girls will learn how to make Kenyan and Exotic dishes, learn to Bake Cakes for Weddings, Birthdays, and other occasions, Cakes for sale, and learn how to begin their own Restaurant or Bakery. The Feeding Program food will also be prepared in this kitchen and the Community will be welcomed to have a meal. The Kitchen requires Two Cookers, a Fridge, Jikos, Sufurias, Spoons, Knives, and Food. There will also be a Pantry where some Teenage Mothers can pick food when they do not have a Meal for their Children, therefore it will contain Maize Flour, Wheat Flour, Cooking Oil, Green Grams, Maize, Beans, Peas, and other kinds of food. 

Dining Room: This is the Meeting Place where the feeding of the Girls and the Poor of the Community will take place.

Crèche: This is the place where the Children of the Teenage Mothers will be taken care of, while their Mothers are learning. It requires Milk, Pampers, Diapers, Children Food, Plates, Spoons, Feeding Bottles, Clothes, Mattresses, Beds, and Blankets. We also require Two People to look after the Children while the Teenage Mothers are learning.

Training Room: Mentorship and Motivation is Key to inspire the Teenage Mothers to aspire to begin a Journey of Transformation which translate to changing the way they Think, Building their Self-Esteem, seeing a brighter Future for themselves, and their Young Families. The Training Room will be the Center for Training, learning Communication Skills, and Learning to be a Good Mother. The Room will need: 10 Computers, Scanner, Printer, Photocopier, Generator, Chairs, Tables, Writing materials, Television, and Projector for watching Education and Motivational Movies.

You can view the latest reports on the Donate page.

Happy Holidays! Success Stories
By Pamela Ateka - Project leader

Teenage pregnancy has been rising despite of the initiation of programs to help stop the occurrence. What seems to have gone wrong is the lack of importance given to the social and emotional effects of teenage pregnancy. Being a teenage mum can bring along social repercussions that extend into adulthood. A large percentage of teen moms drop out of primary or high school in Kenya. Dropping out of school to handle pregnancy or care for a newborn can prevent a teenage mum from learning the skills necessary for adulthood and obtaining a job. Without proper education, she will struggle even more to rise above an increased risk of poverty. Caring for a new baby requires a sacrifice of sleep, expenses, and time. For a teen mum who was previously engaged in social activities, it might be a shocking change to suddenly be unable to participate in many extracurricular activities. The amount of isolation that she feels can be harder, especially from family members. Only a few of teenage mum have the opportunity to have emotional or financial assistance from their parents or relatives. In addition, some teen mums find themselves overwhelmed by their new lifestyle and will have to work to make new friends they have more in common with.
 
Adolescents do not usually have a plan of getting pregnant when they engage in sexual behavior. It is their inability to make a note of the consequences of unplanned indulgence in sex that puts them at risk. It is after the teenager has realized that she is pregnant that she discovers the possible downsides to it at a tender age. The fact that most teenage girls are unaware of the process that pregnancy is, they end up not taking care of themselves and indulging in bad habits such as smoking and drinking to lay the depressed phase off. Below are stories of teenage mums (Sharon, Joan and Diana) whose lives have been transformed after 100 Girls Initiative.
 
Sharon, Joan and Diana are teenage mothers who are between the ages of 15 and 18. They all come from vulnerable families and they are partial orphans. Being teenage mums they all had a share of challenges and difficulties in their lives. As they narrated their stories Joan had worked in illicit brew den with her widowed mum to support their family, Diana joined her mum at a tender age farming land for people and sometimes not being compensated for the hard work done or sometimes paid 1 dollar which is indeed exploitation. Sharon moved from one relative to another and worked as a domestic worker without being paid and faced a lot of abuse.
 
The 100 Girls Initiative was an eye opener to the girls as most of them had no ideas of how much potential they exuded. The training was designed for 6 months of which they were to learn skills on hair dressing as business venture. They had no prior training or experience in this field of hairdressing and beauty and only one of them had a talent in braiding but had no professional training on hair dressing. At the orientation sessions at the Elegance Salon in Homabay County 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.
 
Success stories after the training: Sharon, Joan and Diana were taken through an internship for two months and after finishing the internship. Sharon went back to settle with her mother comfortably and found employment at one of her mother’s friend salon in their neighborhood and also she has began plaiting corn rows at home and supplying to nearby salon and clients. Diana gained employment at a nearby salon and she is paid in commission per client and sometimes she offers assistance to the salon where she did her internship if there are more clients to earn extra money. Joan has been fully absorbed at the Elegance salon after the training and internship as a permanent employee. To minimize the negative social impact, communication with a solid support system is essential for a teenage mum. If a teenager is experiencing the challenges of parenting, as a society is our responsibility to make sure she has access to a counselor and she has an economic support. In addition our communities should offer programs to enable teenage mums connect with each other, develop their skills and promote economic sustainability. It is also important for schools to have programs that allow teenage mums an opportunity to complete their education if they wish to and avoid discrimination.
 

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