Margaret is a resilient 21-year-old young woman.
Margaret Nyambura is a resilient 21-year-old young woman from Mukuru Viwandani Ward. She is the first-born in a family of 5 siblings and lives with her younger sister in Tassia.
When she was enrolled in the project, Margaret was at home due to a lack of school fees. She heard about the CONNECT DREAMS[1] project during a recruitment exercise within her community and decided to take a risk and join the project despite her mother’s hesitation. The risk paid off. She is very committed to the project, walking almost an hour from home to attend Social Asset Building sessions in the HOPE worldwide Kenya Mukuru site office. She has received all the primary services in the project, including entrepreneurship, financial capability, Shuga, HIV testing services, and family planning.
Initially, Margaret was living with her father, as her mother had abandoned her and her sister. After her father became engaged in drug and substance abuse, Margaret and her sister left and went back to live with her mother. Her relationship with her mother can be described as fraught, with many ups and downs. Her mother was physically, emotionally and financially abusive, and would regularly threaten her children, especially when she was low on finances.
She describes the COVID-19 lockdown as a blessing in disguise, as schools were closed and she didn’t have to miss any learning. Her mother was barred from returning from out of town – due to lockdown measures – leaving her as the first-born with the responsibility of looking after her siblings. She says goodwill from the local church and well-wishers kept her family fed during that time. She also began taking odd jobs such as washing clothes to earn extra money.
“After the travel restrictions eased and Mum returned, our relationship broke down completely. I used the skills gained in DREAMS through the financial capability classes to save enough money to move out with my sister.” She tearfully recalls.
A member of the project staff in Mukuru learnt about Margaret’s plight and engaged the site-in-charge. The DREAMS project took her back to school and fully paid her school fees at Jobenpha High School in July 2022 where she finished her final year and sat for the KCSE (Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education) exams. She is very grateful to the project for making her dream of completing high school come true.
[1] HWWK through a sub-grant from CIHEB-Kenya received funding from the US Presidential Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) to implement an HIV prevention program among adolescent girls and young women through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The project is dubbed ‘DREAMS’ which means Determined, Resilient, Empowered, AIDS-free, Mentored, and Safe.
Her plans after high school are to enroll for a computer course, as well as become formally employed.
“I advise young girls to take advantage of any available opportunities they find. I took a risk, and it has paid off massively for me, as I have now finished high school thanks to DREAMS. I also thank PEPFAR for the good work they are doing, without their support I really don’t know where I would have been.” She concludes.
[1] HWWK through a sub-grant from CIHEB-Kenya received funding from the US Presidential Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) to implement an HIV prevention program among adolescent girls and young women through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The project is dubbed ‘DREAMS’ which means Determined, Resilient, Empowered, AIDS-free, Mentored, and Safe.