New Hope for Girls in Kenya – Activity Report August 2023 by Hand of Progress

Our organisation works tirelessly for the protection and rights of girls in Kenya. In this detailed activity report for August 2023, we would like to give our supporters an insight into how your donations have helped to advance our projects to give girls new hope.

Hoffnungsträger in Kenia – Wie Pastor David und seine Frau Catherine Mädchen retten

In rural areas of Kenya, many girls are at risk of forced marriage. One person who gives them new courage and hope is Pastor David. Together with his wife Catherine, the couple hosts 15 girls rescued from forced marriage in their modest home. They finally come to school regularly and dream of a self-determined future. The emotionally charged story of the rescued girls is touching. Pastor David and his wife Catherine open their hearts and their living space to them. With a lot of love and care, they give the often traumatised girls a sense of security and the chance to have a childhood without violence.

For 12 years now, Pastor David and Catherine have been working tirelessly to protect girls in their region. The 15 girls currently accommodated, aged 8 to 16, now come to school regularly. Five of them are financially supported by Hand of Progress. According to UNICEF’s The State of the World’s Children 2016 study, about 23% of girls in Kenya were still married before the age of 18 [Source – p. 151 Table 9]. Natao, who is only 9 years old, was also saved from this fate and was able to start school thanks to your financial support for school fees through our organisation.

In order to be able to accommodate more girls, we are already planning to enlarge Pastor David’s house with an extension and create more sleeping places. This important work to protect girls would not be possible without donations.

New girls’ home in Ortum offers protection

The completion of the new girls’ house at Ortum Girls Primary School in March this year was a big milestone. Despite the persistent drought in the region, the construction of the house for up to 200 girls was almost completed. This safe place will provide a new home for many girls rescued from forced marriage and circumcision.

Ester and Lilian are among the 13 girls that Pastor David and Catherine look after. Like the other girls, they have been given the chance to escape the harmful traditions of their community and focus on their education with the support and guidance of their caring foster family.

One of these rescued girls is 16-year-old Rhoda. At the age of only 9, she was married off to a much older man, a university graduate who had promised to lift Rhoda’s family out of poverty. When Rhoda was 12 years old, she gave birth to a son named Boaz. After some time, she decided to run away from home and found shelter at Ortum School. She was admitted there two years ago, when we at Hand of Progress first met her Rhoda had no shoes, no school uniform and nothing but the clothes on her body. Together we decided to support Rhoda so that she can receive a school education again.

At the end of April this year, Hand of Progress was able to officially hand over the completed girls’ house to the school with great joy from Thomas and Detlef Vorort. This house will give many girls like Rhoda a chance for a self-determined life. Without your donations, this great project would never have become reality.

Fight against circumcision and forced marriage

Despite the official ban on practices such as female genital mutilation (FGM) and forced marriage in Kenya since 2011, many girls continue to be affected. According to UNICEF, over 20% of Kenyan women and girls are affected by FGM. The tradition is particularly prevalent among ethnic groups such as the Maasai, Kuria and Somali. Forced marriages are also not uncommon at 23%, especially in rural areas with poverty. [Source]

Despite the ban, the Kenyan government does little to support victims of these traditions. Organisations like Hand of Progress are therefore essential. By building safe houses and covering school costs, Hand of Progress gives rescued girls a real chance. Many schools depend on this help because otherwise they would have to turn the girls away.

Through our work on the ground, we at Hand of Progress see the negative consequences of these practices every day. Together with you as supporters, the organisation is actively working to break the vicious circle of poverty, lack of education and harmful customs. This is the only way to sustainably improve the situation of girls in Kenya.

Distribution of school Bibles to graduates

Shortly before the final exams at the end of 2022, we as Hand of Progress were able to give hundreds of students a special treat: Our local partners, Pastor Kariuki and Steven, distributed a total of 505 school Bibles to the graduates of three schools on our behalf. The lucky recipients came from Mukuyu Primary School, Kitale Boys’ School and Ortum Girls’ School.

The children and young people were overjoyed about the personal Bible donation. For graduates of Kenyan schools, the gift of their own Bible is of great importance. At secondary schools, Christian religious education is a compulsory subject. But for adolescents from financially disadvantaged families, the purchase of a Bible at a cost of around 8 euros is a major hurdle. This is roughly equivalent to the daily earnings of a farm worker.

With this action we were able to support not only the religious education of the young people. The donation also enabled children from poor backgrounds to pass their final exams well prepared and with their own learning materials.

Given the great success, we plan to organise the Bible donation before final exams again in 2023. We at Hand of Progress are thus actively committed to promoting Christian values and improved educational opportunities in Kenya.

Remedy for the water crisis in schools

During our visit to Ortum Girls’ and Boys’ School earlier this year, we observed a major challenge for the students: the daily walk to the dirty river to fetch water for personal use. After months of drought, clean water sources are scarce. Vor allem die Jüngsten litten unter Durst, Durchfall und Hautkrankheiten. This is everyday life in the boarding schools of Ortum, where the majority of the children come from bitterly poor backgrounds.

As a Hand of Progress, we want to remedy this. Already in 2021 we built two water tanks, but they remained dependent on river water. Now, together with your donations, we are bringing a 180-metre-deep borehole on the school grounds back into operation. It had previously been shut down due to lack of maintenance funds. We are now starting to install a solar pump system to provide clean drinking water and water for hygienic purposes to the schools all year round.

The solar water supply will also eliminate ongoing electricity costs in the future. In addition, the sanitary facilities we have built can be used all year round. We hope that these measures will make everyday school life noticeably easier and protect the children’s health. Together with your donations, we are committed to overcoming the water crisis at Ortum School.

Thanks and outlook

Thanks to the generous support of our supporters, Hand of Progress was able to successfully implement a large number of projects in Kenya last year. We are deeply grateful that we are given this opportunity to make a concrete contribution to the well-being of the people through the helpers on the ground.

Our work is far from complete. Many children and families in Kenya are still in need of help. Carried by Christian charity and our faith, we will continue to work with dedication to give them a future worth living through education, health and social care.

We can only realise this thanks to the support of our donors who are guided by the values of Jesus. We thank God for each and every one and hope for the continued helpfulness of our community in the future. Together and with God’s blessing, we can make the world a little better for people in need. May He continue to accompany and strengthen us on this path.