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Kenya
Girl Guides launch huru pads 11
February 2010
Huru PadsThe Huru pad is a sanitary towel that is reusable.
It can be washed, and reused. Included in the pack are
pads which can be used in the daytime at school, some
to be used at night, soap to wash the pads and instructions
on how to use this sanitary pad. The sanitary pad is
the initiative of America Share, Micato Safaris, Huru
Team and Johnson and Johnson. Kenya Girl Guides Association
is a partner as well.
The
launch took place in Mkuru Kwa Njenga, a very deprived
and unsanitary slum of Narirobi. Pictured are the Girl
Guides from the Hawkers Market displaying the kits that
they received. Mrs. Juliana Mulandi, Chief Commissioner
of Kenya Girl Guides Association gave an address at
the launch of the pads.
The
launch of the huru pad means that the girls will Kenya
Girl Guides - Contents of bag of huru padsno longer
have to miss school, work or sports. They receive one
kit and it is used for a year. There is no expense of
buying sanitary towels. They do not have to use cloth,
cotton wool or suffer any more. The pad is safe, comfortable
and ready to use. The kit can carry books as well as
the pads. The kit includes messages of sexually transmitted
diseases, HIV/AIDS. This is a miracle for the girls
in the slums who often live miles away from shops and
this gives them the freedom to be themselves.
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Hawkers
Market Girls Centre performing at Ignite Poets
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You Tube
Link : - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9eQJE68RaU
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All photos
by Julian M. Njoroge
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Hawker's Market Project
1.
Project Name
Hawkers Market Girls Centre (HMGC)
2.
Physical Address of Project
Hawker Market, Parklands, Nairobi -Kenya
P. O. Box 42200,Nairobi 00100,Kenya
3.
Historical Background
4. This project was started by a group of women to help the
hawkers earn a living from composting. At the same time the
project offered basic education to girls who are unable to
access formal education.
The project
targets girls who come from economically underserved areas
where there is scarcity of food and clean water.
The girls are subject to frequent abuse and have no access
to secondary education after primary education which is now
free.
The girls who would otherwise spend their life in the slum
area engaging in sex or drugs are encouraged to join the Hawkers
Market Girls Centre and are introduced to
i) Income
generating activities
ii) Use of alternative source of energy-water harvesting -
solar cooker
iii) Skills training - marketing
iv) Life Skills training
v) Entrepreneurship
vi) Literacy classes -basic accounting
5.
Operating Philosophy
HMGC is a community based organisation that works in partnership
with other organisations to enable girls and young women to
develop their fullest
potential by proving them with both vocational and life skills.
All the girls belong to the Girl Guide movement.
Equipped with the skills, the girls become economically empowered
and are able to take care of themselves and immediate family.
This is a 'Learn and Earn' Centre where each girl is able
to learn a skill that will enable her to earn a better living
and bring her family out of the vicious cycle of poverty.
6.
Objectives
i)
Provide Security and refuge from abuse for the girls
ii) Empower the girls through Vocational skills
iii) Provide Health Education
iv) Provide Environmental education
v) Impact the girls with financial and business skills (entrepreneurship)
vi) Make them computer literate
vii) Teach them catering skill
Girls
from HMGC have all been able to find jobs.
Some of them are employed as very successful hairdressers.
Mercy is a fulltime hairdresser at the Aga Khan Club Salon.
Nelly is an assistant at the Kenya Girl Guides Association.
Planning to go on to Accounting - she gets support from HMGC.
The teachers at HMGC receive continuous education to upgrade
their skills.
Some girls remain at HMGC to produce jewellery, aprons, scarves
etc for sale.
The girls at the centre at the moment are Internally Displaced
girls who are trying to rehabilitate themselves and their
families.2008
Success
Story.
The girls from the Hawkers Market have benefited from
the following partnership.
UNICEF Sara Project -SADAP
The girls who participated from HMGC last year were able to
mentor the girls this year.
The
sad stories they told of rape and abuse has meant that they
are now under counselling.2008.
The Nation newspaper carried this story.
UNFAO/WAGGGS
The girls in HMGC were recipient of the above award because
they harvest rain water, grow their own food, practise drip
irrigation and harvest rain water, using
solar cooker to cook food. They earn an income from catering.
Princess Benedicte of Denmark- the Patron of Girl Guides all
over the world visited this centre and has been a keen supporter
of the project.
The girls
grow their own food and cook at the centre. This is their
square a meal everyday.
The cost of running the centre is 40,000/- a month.
The
Hawkers Market Girls Centre is a partner of the Kenya Girl
Guides Association.
The training they receive is held at the KGGA. They go camping
to KGGA every November.
Their Law and Promise and girl guide activities are monitored
and tested by KGGA.
Family Health International provides support for the training
of HIV/AIDS. All the girls at HMGC are girl guides and the
teachers are all Girl Guide Leaders
Shariffa
Keshavjee, a founder Member of HMGC has been dedicated to
this project since 1993.
The success
of the project has been has been because of the partnership
with Kenya Girls Guides Association and UN agencies and Aga
Khan Academy.
She teaches at the centre on an ongoing basis, She guides
the girls, mentors them.
Above all she networks with UNICEF which has led to the success
of similar centres in Gucha and Garissa.
The uphill struggle to keep the centre open has not daunted
her, she keeps persevering.
2008 BBC
World Challenge recognised HMGC and short listed it from 900
projects
2008 World
Bank Development Market Place chose HMGC as runner up for
the Amateur Video Contest.
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