Rural Skills Development Training

On the 11th of October we took the Boresha Dada Campaign to a rural community in Teso South. In commemorating the International Day of the Girl Child whose theme was \"The Power of Adolescent Girls\" In recognising this as an organization we held a Skills Development Training for 17 teenage mothers aged between 15 to 19 years in Machakusi Village, Teso South Sub County, Busia County, Kenya.

The girls selected were teen mothers who either dropped out of school due to unintended pregnancy or girls who got pregnant immediately after sitting their primary school or high school certificate examinations. We view this training as important because it builds the resilience and gives the young mother an alternative career saving them from living an indecent life.

These training was made possible by World Pulse, Volunteers and St Mark Machakusi Parish. The objectives of this training were: 1.) To train 17 teen moms in making handmade shaggy mats

2.) Equip the girls with basic online and offline marketing skills and book keeping

3.) Take the girls through visualizing and affirming their life goals

4.) Facilitate open discussions on the gender inequalities the girls face and how they tackle the challenges they face.

The Training

Session One

The training was opened by Immaculate who asked the girls to introduce themselves with Organizations trademark introduction of stating their aspiration and what super power they wish they has ans what they would do with this super power. This was followed by an open discussion on the inequalities this girls face as young women and the challenges they face. What stood out in this session was the dreams to lead better lives that the girls carry with them, for them all hope is not lost just yet. Second most of the girls shared how they are stigmatised and lack support from their families.

Three sighted poor reproductive health services in clinics for girls their age. Of the seventeen girls three were integrated back to school and had just sat for their primary education certificate.

Session Two

This was a hands on session and was facilitated by Four Facilitators Ann Lunani, Martha Nekesa, Edith Nelima and Immaculate Amoit. The trainees were provided with tapestry, yarn, crotchet, glue and bottles. The girls played with their creativity, in creating new patterns and acquired new skills in crocheting shaggy mats and binding the edges. The 17 girls also learnt how to make Do It Yourself Decor Bottles for sale.

This session ended on marketing and book keeping skills.The girls weretaught on good workmanship, looking for customers, closing a sale both online and offline and book keeping for the purposes of tracking profits and progress.

Session Three

In closing the day, and with a new set of skills.Becuase we believe in the saying \" growth happens where your attention is\" the girls were taken through affirming and visualizingtheir life goals.They were encouraged to write them down and meditate on these new set goals daily.

Challenges

The challenges were minimal as we had a quiet training venue within the church compound. Due to the support from World Pulse inform of an Award we had all the training materials required and snacks. All girls in attendance had free yarn, tapestry and crotchet and a records book. As with training mothers some.girls.had to leave the training to take their children for clinic but had attended most of the sessions.

Future.

We intend to recruit more girls for such trainings the near future and have them train for multiple skills for a week and also provide them with initial capital in form of a micro loan to start an enterprise.