INTERNATIONAL DAY OF GIRL CHILD, is celebrated every year on 11th October. This year the day was celebrated in Mathare 4 A by safe space girls under the Adolescent Girl's Power project. The objective was to let girls apply the life skills they learn in safe spaces and become confident by playing soccer.  The day's celebration brought together the children's department, local stakeholders, and parents to witness some of the gained talents and skills. 

 

 WEZESHA WASICHANA (enable girls) CHAPTER (Maa translation, Naidimie Ntonyie Oloibortoto)

In a recent activity held earlier, on the International Day of zero tolerance on FGM, Otto Benecker foundation together with its collaborating partners (Ray of Care, Imarisha Kenya and Osiligi health center visited Nguruman, in Kajiado to raise awareness on the effects of FGM during the February 6^th 2021 celebrations. The event happened at Oloibartoto Location, at Kenya Evangelicah Lutheran Church. The next visit scheduled for July 16th-17th aims at following up on the resolutions that were past by the local leaders and partners.

The main problem among teen girls was FGM, currently practiced openly in Kenya and across the border in Tanzania.

Among key highlights in the next meeting will be:

·         Find solutions to SRHR/MH and FGM challenges:

1.       Train both boy and girl child so that they can be on the same level of understanding issues
2.       Community members to collaborate and utilize local resources to solve some key challenges.
3.       Find alternatives to girls' challenges as lack of school fees, GBV at home and discrimination     that could be challenged through community dialogues.
4.       Organize exchange programs where teenage girls meet other girls and learn from each other.
5.      A follow up on what girls vowed:
6.      Wezesha wasichana Oloibortoto chapter was formed to support girls in safe   spaces, champion end to FGM in Nguruman and community leaders would start   community dialogues to address various challenges.

Some of the teen girls at Oloibortoto, Nguruman village, 2021

 As we celebrate the Day of African Child every 16th June; this year 2021, the theme was “30 years after the adoption of the Charter: accelerate the implementation of Agenda 2040 for an Africa fit for children”. Otto Benecker Foundation throough the adolescent girl's power project focused on empowering the children with rights knowledge, sexual reproductive health, leader and advocacy and business development skills, as assets that will enhance child safety. The adolescent girl will be able to understand her agency and safe spaces. 

In the recent photo, 17th June 2021, young adolescent mothers in Mathare, Nairobi County found a safe space to share their experiences and encourage each other.

MITIGATING COVID 19 PANDEMIC AND TRANSFORMING TO NEW NORMAL

AS the world grapples with COVID 19 pandemic, Otto Benecker Foundation, takes this opportunity to urge all its beneficiaries to keep safe by observing Kenyan government and World Health Organization guidelines in order to eliminate effects of the unusual pandemic.

Protect yourself and others from the spread COVID-19

You can reduce your chances of being infected or spreading COVID-19 by taking some simple precautions:

Regularly and thoroughly clean your hands with an alcohol-based hand rub or wash them with soap and water.

Why? Washing your hands with soap and water or using alcohol-based hand rub kills viruses that may be on your hands.

Maintain at least 1 metre (3 feet) distance between yourself and others. 

Why? When someone coughs, sneezes, or speaks they spray small liquid droplets from their nose or 

mouth which may contain virus. If you are too close, you can breathe in the droplets, including the COVID-19 virus 

if the person has the disease.

Avoid going to crowded places. Why? Where people come together in crowds, you are more likely to come into 

close contact with someone that has COVID-19 and it is more difficult to maintain physical distance of 1 metre (3 feet).

Avoid touching eyes, nose and mouth. Why? Hands touch many surfaces and can pick up viruses. 

Once contaminated, hands can transfer the virus to your eyes, nose or mouth.

From there, the virus can enter your body and infect you.

Make sure you, and the people around you, follow good respiratory hygiene. 

This means covering your mouth and nose with your bent elbow or tissue when you cough or sneeze. 

Then dispose of the used tissue immediately and wash your hands. Why? Droplets spread virus.

 By following good respiratory hygiene, you protect the people around you from viruses such as cold, flu and COVID-19.

Stay home and self-isolate even with minor symptoms such as cough, headache, mild fever, until you recover. 

Have someone bring you supplies. If you need to leave your house, wear a mask to avoid infecting others. 

Why? Avoiding contact with others will protect them from possible COVID-19 and other viruses.

If you have a fever, cough and difficulty breathing, seek medical attention,

but call by telephone in advance if possible and follow the directions of your local health authority. 

Why? National and local authorities will have the most up to date information on the situation in your area. 

Calling in advance will allow your health care provider to quickly direct you to the right health facility. 

This will also protect you and help prevent spread of viruses and other infections.

Keep up to date on the latest information from trusted sources, such as WHO or your local and national health authorities. 

Why? Local and national authorities are best placed to advise on what people in your area should be doing to protect themselves.

Transformative Development Planning

Transformative project design and implementation is the newest approach in development planning. This model values beneficiaries who become part and parcel of the project. They begin by making contributions to the Theory of Change (TOC). Here, primary targets identify needs, root causes, and find solutions by themselves. As planners, we take the ideas to the next level although maintain the language of the beneficiaries as simple as possible. A Case in point about transformative planning happened with  adolescent girls in Mathare recently when Otto Benecker Foundation team engaged in project fact finding mission about sexual abuse, exploitation and violence in January-June 2019.

One could easily feel the reality on the ground as girls expressed about statements and actions that are said and done to their bodies as they mingle with key influencers. Positive statements made them feel valued, loved and appreciated and mainly increased their self-confidence. On the contrary, negative statements made them feel disgusted, unappreciated, stigmatized and contributed to their low self-esteem and poor performance at school. The involvement of the girls then informed planners of various emerging needs as unsafe physical and emotional spaces for girls. This approach to planning makes planning easy for both the community, the primary target and the project staff.  (to be continued......)

The World Environment Day 2019

The World environment day 2019 - dubbed climate change for peace action brought together otto benecker foundation, Nairobi recyclers, miti alliance, conflict transformation for development, team change, anita children's home-ngong, ward administration's office, kabiro ward nairobi county, public primary schools, shepherd self help groups participated in clean up and tree planting exercises.
The event aimed at creating awareness about the effect of climate change on urban livelihoods and encouraged partners to engage in urban afforetation efforts so that we could increase the forest cover. We also observed that, by engaging pupils in primary schools was  a sustainable preventive measure as the values and beliefs about environmental conservation would be embraced by the budding conservationists.

Clean UP Exercise and Tree Planting

On 14th September 2019, Otto Benecker Foundation with other stakeholders organized a Clean up exercise in Dagoretti, Muslim Primary to gear up for the 21st World Clean Up Day - themed climate action  for peace. Fruit and non fruit trees were  in the public school and a clean up exercise conducted around the school to create awareness about need for urban afforestation.