100 Girls Project Homabay
Community Focus Group embarked on Skill Development Training of 4 Girls in Homabay County. The process of selection was done on the basis of their background story and needs assessment done per individual. The Girls were given orientation on the main agenda of the program and joined the training on the 1st of March 2018 at Elegance Hair Dressing Salon and ended on 31st August. The training time frame was 6 month and the Girls were taken through a practical training on Hair Braiding, Retouch, Styling, Dread Locks, Corn Row Plaiting, Wash and Set, Pricing, Customer Etiquette. After the training the top 2 Girls will be given an Internship position in the same Salon for Two Months to sharpen their Skills further.
Impact of the Project
Self Esteem and Wareness
When the Girls joined the program they had very low self esteem due to the challenges they have faced all their life according to their personal stories. All of them came from a single parent family (widowed mothers) and they all dropped out of school after getting pregnant. Their mothers don’t have a stable income to support their families and they have lived in poverty and had to do anything (selling elicit brew, farming others peoples land, etc.) to put food on the table. The experiences made them to lose confidence and hope. This project has enabled them to believe in themselves again, enhanced their self esteem and has given them an opportunity to showcase their gift and talents of hair dressing.
Interpersonal and Communication Skills
Majority of them came with very poor interpersonal and communication skills due to their upbringing or having to deal with the judgmental and psychological aspect in the society as teenage mothers coming from a vulnerable background. The project has helped them to improve on their Life with: Positive Thinking Skills, Personality Development Skills, Management Skills, Behavioral Skills, including Job and Employability Skills.
Skill Development
All the Girls had no prior experience in hair dressing. The six month training has given the Girls transformation from unskilled, unemployed Girls to potential employees or even future employers. Above all it has given them hope as a means to earn a living and support their children and siblings.
Conclusion
Empowering Girls and Young Women is not an ‘option’ for a modern society, it should have already happened a long time ago. This project has become an eye opener to Young Teenage Mothers and their peers because it has given them hope and opportunity to explore their potential and become an example to their communities that their dreams are valid.
When you educate a man you educate an individual, but if you educate a woman you educate a family (Nation). Dr James Emmanuel Kwegy
To give more Girls the chance to succeed like the Homaby Girls, Please help with Purchasing more Training equipment.