By Jacinta van Luijk | Coordinator and Education Officer
KAP's UNREACHED YOUTHS ACTIVITIES AIM TO INCLUDE ALL
Unreached- i.e. youths on the margins of society are very vulnerable. Some amongst them are even extra vulnerbale due to their additional physical challenges.
KAP is very happy to have been able to include some of them, several deaf people and others with (severe) physical challenges.
Below some examples of the impact of our trainings on their lives:
MELISSA
30 YEARS OLD, is the first-born in a family of five. She is a bright young woman but was physically challenged since childhood, uses a wheelchair and is in need of much help in her daily chores. Melissa lives with her parents and has a child who is four years old.
Due to her disability she was not allowed to go to school and forced to stay at home, as she could not do anything by herself, even eating. Thus she came to hate everything and everybody, even life and loathed mingling with her peers. However in her twenties she fell in love with a man. Unfortunately he was poor and also an alcoholic. She therefore could not stay with him, became totally confined to home whilst her parents now demanded her to ask for permission even when she wanted to visit friends.
She became a very angry person, and could shout at her brothers because she felt so much out of place when she saw them doing their own things. Things which she was unable to do. Her brothers in turn blamed her for being a burden. One of them then stole some money which had been donated to her, adding fuel to her feelings of anger and hate. She felt belittled by her parents for being so strict on her due to her pregnancy.
During the workshop she shared deeply and cried out with a lot of pain of how she regrets having been born with such severe physical challenges.
The training contents also included self-awareness and the stages of acceptance. She shared that gradually she was able to know herself better, and to realize that some things might never be changed and that she wanted to learn how to live with them. She resolved to forgive her family members, and is working hard to try solving issues without a lot of conflict.
She loves attending KAP’s training sessions, is now happy to mingle with others and clearly tries to make the best of her life.
GRACE IS 24 YEARS OLD, LIVING WITH HEARING IMPAIRMENT (deaf), and a newly graduated KAP Community Resource Person (CRP) living on Mt. Elgon. She is a single mother of one child, whom she gave birth to at the age of 16 years. She is the fifth born in a family of six.
Since childhood she has gone through a series of traumatic scenarios including sexual violence, emotional abuse and neglect, in a very poor family. Her father is a violent and alcoholic man who does not value Grace as he believes that his daughter is a curse to the family due to her deafness.
During the CRPs training, upon learning the facts on HIV and related matters, Grace shared how her mother introduced her to a contraceptive implant telling her that this would prevent her from STIs, HIV and pregnancy. After this her mother invited male sexual partners, who would pay her (the mother) for Grace’s sexual services, explaining that these were necessary for the upkeep of the child. However through the training, Grace realized her predicament, became confident and threw off her feelings of shame. She also became very angry and started looking for ways out of her problems. KAP’s serious intervention efforts unfortunately were thwarted by uncooperative officials, contradictory statements and concealed evidence.
Through KAP's counselling Grace decided to look for other options, and to open up to her elder sister, who now accepted to accommodate her in her marital home. Here she feels secure.
In the year 2022, through a well-wisher – a local Church Leader - Grace had joined a School for the Deaf, and enrolled in a dress making course where she also learned sign language, literacy and mathematics and became the top student. Unfortunately the well-wisher became unable to continue paying her school fees. In April 2024 unexpectedly another well-wisher heard about Grace’s story and was willing to pay for her the remaining schooling and grade three Trade Test.
Grace was overjoyed and is now back at her college. She has shown to be a student with excellent performance, and much liked.
After school Grace says that she would like to establish her own small tailoring business. One of KAP’s Community Trainers (TOTs), also a tailor, has already offered to help her doing so.
Grace is determined to make her life a success. KAP will definitely help her keep this flame burning through its follow-up activities.
EXTENSION OF THIS GLOBALGIVING PROJECT
Currently this KAP GlobalGiving project supports the Unreached Youth activities together with other donors. Thus KAP has been able to accommodate all community members willing to participate.
In addition, we have observed that psycho-education sessions - a follow-up activity: series of three half day sessions for community (and vulnerable school) youths - has caught the keen interest of even the most unlikely of unreached youths, such as local gangs. The series have also shown to respond to big needs for education on our subject areas in schools.
An extended budget will make extra sessions possible.
Therefore very soon an ADDITIONAL BUDGET will be made to respond to the growing requests for inclusion of all interested Unreached Youths.
KAP IS MOST GRATEFUL FOR YOUR CONTINUED SUPPORT !!
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