Youth Education Programming
GOAL: Vibrant and sustained youth mentorship groups (Jasiri Circles) empowering Nyanam youth to destigmatize health, cultivate safe spaces, become environmental champions and voices for positive social, policy and community change.
THE CONTEXT FOR WIDOWS’ CHILDREN
Widows’ children are particularly a population in need of support, as poverty limits the future of both the widows and their families. They face barriers in accessing education and are highly susceptible to mental health problems due to the social stigmatization and economic disempowerment that their mothers experience with widowhood, as well as high rates of youth substance abuse and sexual exploitation. Widows’ daughters are at risk of transactional sex, which can lead to teenage pregnancies, early marriages, and increased HIV among teenage girls. Widows’ sons, often as a result of their family’s financial situation or lack of a father-figure, are at more risk to abuse substances and drop out of school. The increased risk that children of widows experience can be detrimental to their mental health and emotional well-being. According to a study in Zimbabwe on Affective Disorders, depression and anxiety disorders were associated with children living in female-headed households and feeling stigmatized.
The children of the widows in the Lake Victoria region of Kenya are an especially vulnerable population for which minimal structural support exists. Due to poverty in their households, some of the children fail to join or complete secondary school education. Some repeat the final grade in primary education two to three times waiting for their families to raise resources to enable them to join secondary education. Many also miss school days when they are sent home for school fees. Not being able to attend school affects these children’s mental health, limits their life opportunities, and continues the cycle of intergenerational poverty and vulnerability.
GOALS FOR OUR YOUTH EDUCATION PROGRAM
Create a system of peer-to-peer mentorship and support for widows’ children
Provide comprehensive health education
Provide technology and robotics education
Provide environmental justice education
Provide need-based secondary school sponsorships
PEER-TO-PEER MENTORSHIP THROUGH JASIRI CIRCLES
Nyanam serves 600 widows’ children aged between 10-24 years, and organized in 28 peer mentorship groups called Jasiri Circles. Each Jasiri Circle has a Youth mentor who receives regular training and resources from Nyanam and multiples those training with widows’ children in their circle. The youth mentors are supported by youth advisory council, who are older youths in the community with passion to see widows’ children thrive.
COMPREHENSIVE HEALTH EDUCATION
We use sports, arts and group discussions to teach comprehensive health education. Sports is an effective way of bringing young people together for fun, while incorporating health education. Art is also a powerful tool for expression and for mental health healing. Our comprehensive health education will address the health challenges that widows children face in sexual, mental, and physical health. This will include education and training on healthy sexual relationships and behaviors including prevention of teenage pregnancies and gender-based violence such as resisting forced sex or intergenerational sex; prevention of mental illness and development of positive coping mechanisms to address mental health issues; and physical health care including puberty, menstruation, and prevention of drug abuse.
ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE EDUCATION
Climate change adversely affects rural communities like Western Kenya where we work and jeopardizes the future of the planet and the next generation. Climate change has contributed to food insecurity and mental health issues among the young and the old. We have educational workshops on climate change and environmental sustainability. We also provide Jasiri Circles with tree seeds and each circle creates their tree seedlings which they plant at their homes, and sell for planting in their communities. These tree seedlings generate income for the circles to implement their activities while protecting the environment.
NEED-BASED EDUCATION SPONSORSHIPS
The scholarship program is designed in a way that not only improves student access to secondary education, but also builds students’ communication skills and goal setting through the application and mentorship process. Nyanam will host a yearly application process for students to submit an application for a scholarship. The applications will focus on the students’ personal goals and motivation for attending school, encouraging them to share their long-term dreams for work or studies after high school as well.
TECHNOLOGY AND ROBOTICS EDUCATION
In partnership with Coderina and Stemtrix, we facilitate robotics training for widows’ children. Each year, the children participate in a STEM workshop. In the future, we seek to provide laptops for computer literacy and training in coding.