We deliver nutritious breakfasts to children, implement targeted interventions to address period poverty, and provide mentorship to girls in urban slums and rural communities to promote their empowerment and overall well-being. After they left, I wanted to do something that would make a difference to their lives and the lives of young women living in Mathare. Together with Maqulate Atieno Onyango
we started our Salon Initiative. Fiona's Salon Initiative is a small project in Nairobi aimed at providing a workplace for young women where they can earn a wage at the hair salon and help provide for their children. Our goal is to provide a place where young mothers can work towards their own empowerment and independence. Since then we have also started our Girls Empowerment program. We work within 10 local schools providing education for girls. Our curriculum teaches sexual reproduction, sexual health and menstrual hygiene, AIDS and HIV prevention and girls and womens rights. We train peer mentors, provide coaching sessions and workshops. Mathare Slums, where we are based and the oldest of the slums is home to more than a million Nairobi residents struggling with inadequate access to clean Water, Sanitation, Healthcare and Education. This is where the girls were born, and live. Despite these challenges, these girls have been able to stand-out, gain basic education and sustain themselves. By joining Fiona's Salon initiative, they will be able to work, sustain their families and build a lifetime carrier by becoming professionals. In this way Young mums are not forced to turn to drugs or prostitution as a means of feeding their children or paying for school fees. By working as a hairdresser they can live independently and pay for school fees and uniforms for the children, because in Nairobi no uniform means no
Education for girls is a basic right which we take for granted. By following our program we are teaching and encouraging girls to make positive informed choices and empowering girls. If you would like to support this project you can make a donation to STICHTING MATHARE GIRL POWER at bank account number IBAN NL97 RABO 0313 0268 15
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