CLASSROMS FOR TEENAGE MOTHERS

We have very many teen mothers here in the village of katolo in olasi area who have dropped out of school due to early pregnancies. most of them are at home without skills and no income generating work.
Often, the teen mothers are left to carry the burden of parenthood alone while the father either continues school, refuses to take responsibility, or remains unknown.

Teen motherhood comes with its challenges. These include:

Lose opportunity to advance education.
Girls lose their childhood and are forced to drop their education to adapt to the life of caring for their children. In Kenya, 98% of teen mothers are out of school with a zero probability of returning. Having no access to education means chances of having a successful life are limited. For those who return to school, these institutions fail to offer a safe space for teen mothers and fail to offer psychological support.

Stigma and rejection
Teen mothers face stigma from their parents, teachers, peers, and society. This has made it difficult for teen moms to seek social and moral support and at times, many are disowned by their parents or kicked out of home. This leaves them more vulnerable to abuse and exploitation in the community.

Poverty
Teen mothers suffer from poverty. They resort to transactional sex or endure gender violence and abuse in exchange for material goods, food, or money. Many of these young girls are younger than the fathers of their babies thus a huge power imbalance making it difficult for poor teenage mothers to defend and protect themselves from abusers. Some end up opting for early marriages as a way of accessing food, clothing, housing, and security.

Mental health problems
Several factors can negatively affect teen mothers’ mental health. These include lack of sufficient sleep, lack of family support especially in cases where pregnant teens are kicked out of parents’/guardians’ homes, change in social status, loss of friends, the cost of raising a child, and the hustle of juggling school while raising a child. These, and others, can lead to mental health problems including stress and depression, low self esteem.
We are on a mission in katolo village in Nyando sub county in Kisumu Count Kenya. We are facing many challenges here. Due to wife inheritance culture there are so many orphans due to HIV pandemic equally we have very many teenage mothers hanging at home.
We have looked around and noted that there are no technical schools around and these teenage mothers need skills so that they can be self-employed. Single teenage mothers coming from very poor families face insurmountable difficulties. There is a need to provide them with financial help and training with skills so that they live with dignity in their communities and become future entrepreneurs.

we will need to: educate the mothers and help them attain self-reliance through vocational skill training tailoring, catering, to
empower the lost dreams. Through income generating activities they become job creators and not Job seekers.
provide counseling to give hope after physical and emotional damage.
re-unite families.
do advocacy for women and children.
help the teenage mother re-integrate back into their community.
We already have the following equipment as our own contribution:

· Baking equipment oven, mixers of bread and cake
· 9 Tailoring machines.
· Land where to construct vocational school/classrooms

Please we are requesting your noble organization to assist us with the construction of two classrooms for practical's so that we will be able to assist the teenage mothers who are idle at home.
OUR WISH IS THAT THESE MOTHERS WILL BE EMPOWERED WITH SKILLS THAT WILL ENABLE THEM BE SELF EMPLOYED IN FUTURE AND BECOME ENTREPRENEURS,
OUR WISH IS TO HAVE TWO CLASSROMS SO THAT THEY WILL BE ABLE TO BEGIN THEIR CLASSES AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.
THANKS
ATIENO CAROLINE