Enhance (mental) health of 1,358 Kenyan youths

ACTIVITIES
In order to enhance the emotional and social capacities of marginalized youths, thus enabling them to choose healthy behaviors, KAP provides community-based training of 'Unreached Youths' Community Resource Persons (CRPs) and professional counselling and (psycho-) education services.
Actual activities include Core Trainings (for new groups) and Advanced Trainings (for already graduated, ‘old’ groups). There are a six-days core workshop, continuous education/’refresher’-days, Micro-Meetings and Micro-Teachings, KAP-Guided Education Sessions, Household- & Peer Education Visits and group- or one on one counselling sessions.
The core training lasts on average 6 months; the advanced training cycle one year. Both are concluded by simple ‘exams’ and Graduation Ceremonies.

OUTPUTS
Graduation of Trainees
KAP wholeheartedly thanks our generous and faithful donors who made it possible to complete the trainings for our new Kobos/Zea group and the two advanced trainings for our Kiboroa and Nasianda groups!
Thus, after two continuous education days in Zea in September 2022, happy graduation ceremonies were held on the 15th (Kiboroa) and the 29th July 2022 (Nasianda) and on the 28th October 2022 in Kobos B/Zea area!
In Zea, out of the 52 youths who ever attended, 33 received their cream-colored full certificate, whilst 14 earned their white ‘attendance’ certificate. The latter encourages the voluntary CRPs to complete all training components and also achieve their full certificates!
Especially in Zea, several community members, – leaders, family members and friends came to witness the event. The graduates explained about what they had learned, demonstrated their skills whilst several testified to the positive changes in their lives.
The trainees graduate as voluntary ‘Youths Community Resource Persons (CRP-Us)’.

Reaching Out To Fellow Youths
After having learned, and having made a good start with their personal healing processes, participants learn and practice how to reach out to others. They often greatly enjoy doing so, whilst clearly their self-esteem and team spirit are boosted too.
From February till September 2022 ten successful KAP guided education sessions were held in schools and churches for minimal 709 students, pupils, fellow youths and also some mixed adult groups. In addition at least 35 household education sessions were held, and several more unguided education sessions to peers and in the own families.

CHALLENGES
Due to low income (few donations) during this project period, the training contents for the advanced trainings had to be adjusted and shortened. Thanks to the usual moderate local restaurants’ charges and the provision of free venues the other activities could proceed.
In addition, it was Kenya’s national election period, which unfortunately caused considerable, even serious political interference in participants’ attendance, especially in the Kiboroa and Nasianda areas: Our youths were lured by monetary hand-outs for political activities, even discouraged by their elders from attendance, in order to retain their ‘political readiness’. This disrupted the attendance numbers and frequency and also slowed down the completion of our training cycles. The latter in turn caused some youths to have moved on to other areas for jobs or studies.
However, at the same time this could be considered as positive training results, as most participants had not been keen to do so before!

TESTIMONIES
A Parent Testifying
Thus in Zea one girl had asked her mother to attend and collect her certificate on her behalf.
Upon hearing the testimonies from some graduates during the ceremony, this mother asked to also contribute. She revealed that one year ago she could not have imagined representing her daughter for such a happy event: Before the training they had been enemies, full of hurt and accusations due to deeply painful events. She said to have been greatly surprised, with initial unbelief, by the changes she observed in her daughter during the training, and was deeply touched when she approached her to talk. Together and with some KAP guidance they worked through the challenges. And unlike before, she was now able to encourage and assist her daughter in her wish to continue her education.

Mercy
(not her real name) is a young mother of two, who lives with her equally young come-we-stay husband.
Before KAP’s training, unknown to Mercy her husband was on HIV/AIDS treatment, despite his addiction to alcohol and bhang’ (marijuana). One day when he was drunk he caused an accident which resulted in his leg being amputated.
Gradually Mercy’s health also deteriorated, and one day she took her husband’s medicines to calm the pain, taking them for painkillers. As both remained sick, after a while she accompanied her husband on his hospital visit. There she was HIV tested and diagnosed positive.
Mercy was very angry and could not accept her status, bitterly blaming her husband for causing great suffering to the family. She refused to take her new ARV medication and started abusing alcohol instead. Domestic violence in their home escalated and she threw her ARVs in a pit latrine. The pastor of Mercy’s church worked hard to intervene, but all was in vein. This was was until she got an invitation letter through the church to attend KAP’s workshop.

This training also included the facts-that-matter on HIV/AIDS, positive living and skills for self-care. During the group sharing fellow members openly shared their life experiences and this greatly motivated Mercy. Thus she also came to accept her life’s situation and HIV status, causing her to return to her ARV treatment. She became healthy and happy, and invited KAP staffs to accompany her for family education and counselling. This touched her husband and he appreciated the sessions. In the process they agreed to support each other at all times. And, through the helping skills acquired, Mercy even initiated an active psychosocial support group for people living with HIV/AIDS in her community.

• GlobalGiving KAP Financial Report for November 22 (PDF)
  

IMPACT SUSTAINED - Seven Months into the Training...

IN CORE TRAININGS
Tom -
Tom (21 years old) joined the ‘Unreached Youths’ training in December 2021. At the time he worked as a chang’aa brewer in a local drinking den. He also became a regular consumer and lived by the day, admitting that for him there was no hope in life.
He shared that when he was 15 years old he had dropped out of school due to separation of and rejection by his parents, when they stopped supporting his education. Initially he looked for casual jobs as a farm hand. However people took advantage of his vulnerability and did not pay him for his hard work, causing him to try his luck in brewing.
Seven months after starting his KAP course, Tom is a different person: The sessions on self-awareness and self-realization made him see that also for him life was worth living.
He approached a neighbor with a motorbike mechanic workshop and asked for an opportunity to work as a volunteer apprentice. His neighbor gave him the chance, and Tom wholeheartedly took it with both hands. He has stopped drinking and is now well underway in the process of acquiring effective mechanical skills. Tom is so grateful and thanks KAP for changing his life.

Fatuma - 
When in December 2021 Fatuma (not her real name) participated in KAP’s core training in Kobos she was a depressed and anxious 24-year old youngster. In the group counselling sessions she opened up and told her story:
            She was 15 years old when both her parents died. Being an orphan, her relatives kept their distance and she had no shoulder to lean on. Consequently she worked as a house maid in several towns. Soon Fatuma got ‘married’ and at the age of 17 years she gave birth to a baby boy. Unfortunately the marriage was not a happy one, full of daily violent abuse whilst her husband infected her with a sexually transmitted disease (STI). The latter caused the miscarriage of her second pregnancy and increased the beatings. They separated and she got married to a second husband, a motorbike rider.
            Sadly, also in this come-we-stay-marriage there was domestic violence, the STI had not yet been treated and two more miscarriages followed. Fatuma was again two months pregnant when she joined KAP’s training. The teachings on STIs were an eye opener for her; she received counselling and was referred by KAP for medical attention at an affordable church facility. Having learned about the importance of communication she shared her new KAP experiences with her husband who also became interested in learning, being counselled and treatment. Thus they became able to discuss matters on sexual health and relationships and take care of the pregnancy till birth. Despite the economic challenges the ‘Unreached Youth Participant’ Fatuma now feels emotionally stable, and is becoming a keen youth resource person (CRPU) in the Kobos community.

ADVANCED TRAININGS: CRPUs PASSING ON THE MESSAGE - 
On the 9th August 2022 Kenya is expecting its General Elections. The stakes are high, and political temperatures are rising. 'Trauma Management for Peace' is part of the CRPU's Advanced Training. In the Mitume/Matisi slum areas of Kitale, due to the political violent operations of five youths militias (some as young as 9-14 years) as well as several recent lynchings, there is increased tension. On the 15th June 2022 an action group of 4 Advanced CRPUs organised a Guided Education Session on violence/trauma prevention for 50 (Assistant-) Chiefs, village elders and fellow youths at the Chiefs office in Mitume.  Mobilisation of the participants was not easy due to their high expectations of monetary hand-outs during this political season. However the Mitume CRPUs' Guided Education Session became a most encouraging success! A report:

 “During the session Betty testified how her son was lured by a youthful Mitume gang into activities of destroying and stealing from neighbours. Other participants shared how they had lost their businesses worth millions of shillings through repeated political violence. A participant called John became very emotional when explaining how his father was beaten to death in front of his family. This led to a very open and frank sharing by all present. This was painful but educative, and all agreed that they would try by all means to abstain from conflict and violence.
Societal injustices and ethnic incitement however were seen as great stumbling blocks. In response the CRPUs explained how the approach of ‘active non-violence (ANV)’ could be used: You ‘fight back’ but without violence. In addition, ANV helps people to see that there is something good in everyone. When participants remarked that it was impossible to break the chain of the gangs’ violence due to their political rewards, Betty disagreed and urged everyone to follow her example by talking openly with their children and ‘plucking them out’ of the gangs thus weakening them. Village elders were touched and resolved to always discuss violence and peace in their daily conversations, and to organize regular peace talks in their villages.
The CRPUs then talked about how instead of providing money, KAP had given them peace of mind and a changed attitude and behaviors, resulting into their voluntary involvement for many years.
A video on Kenya’s post-election crisis was shown. A local political candidate who had requested ‘to greet the participants’ at the end of the session, was lost for words when eventually given the chance.”

ACTIVITIES AND OUTPUTS 
For this report’s details see the attachment “July 2022 Financial Report & Narrative Details”

From the 16th March 2022 till the 30th June 2022 there have been CONTINUOUS MOBILIZATION ACTIVITIES by KAP Staffs for CRPU’s follow-up sessions.
KAP VERY MUCH VALUES FOLLOW-UP ACTIVITIES in order to achieve and maintain real impact.

These Follow-Up activities consisted of
(1) FIVE CONTINUOUS EDUCATION WORKSHOPS in six non-residential days for the new CRPUs in the Kobos/Zea area (amongst the huge ADC farms), in Kiboroa (on Mt Elgon), and for the already graduated (‘old’) CRPUs of Nasianda/Teldet (Mt. Elgon) and Bidii (semi-urban near Kitale). A total of 67 Unreached Youths Community Resource Persons (CRP-Us) were trained;
(2) NINE GUIDED EDUCATION SESSIONS, organized and facilitated by CRPUs in Kobos/Zea, Kiboroa, Mitume and Matisi (Kitale slums), Bidii and Sabata (a rural area 20 kms outside of Kitale). A total of 435 community members were reached, mostly fellow youths but also elders, chiefs, parents and teachers. Topics varied from HIV/AIDS and STIs to substance abuse and addiction and prevention of violence and trauma in the ongoing election period. The sessions were held in a variety of local Churches, schools, a Chief’s office and a CRPU’s home.
(3) HOUSEHOLD (FRIENDS) EDUCATION VISITS BY CRPUs – During the reporting period there were 47 of such visits during which 37 friends of CRPUs-in-training were (repeatedly) engaged. This happened in a series of three visits, which are still ongoing. The beneficiaries learn about all sorts of youths issues, those as mentioned above, but also self-esteem and other concerns in the lives of the participating youths. As the friends are engaged in their own homes and in small numbers beneficiaries have the space to open up and share their lives’ experiences.
(4) From amongst the above beneficiaries 25 youths received PROFESSIONAL COUNSELLING in once-off or multiple sessions by KAP’s qualified staffs.

Altogether, from 16.March through the 30.June 2022 minimal 539 PEOPLE, MOSTLY VULNERABLE YOUTHS, WERE REACHED

WITH OUR HEARTFELT THANKS TO ALL WELLWISHERS AND DONORS WHO HAVE MADE THESE REMARKABLE ACHIEVEMENTS POSSIBLE!

• July 2022.Financial Report & Narrative (PDF)