Youth living in Nairobi’s slums are at risk for exploitation, forced labor and other abuses. Few attend the later stages of school as compared to those living in Kenya’s more rural areas. The few schools serving this disadvantaged community are beyond the financial means of most families. UNICEF noted that while Kenya has free and compulsory education, youth in poverty still cannot afford to attend school resulting in close to 90 percent of children from poor households failing to complete their basic education.

The Bosco Boys program provides education and workforce development opportunities. Students in the program who complete their primary education are assisted with secondary education or are advised to choose technical training in sister institutions. The secondary education is most often provided at Don Bosco Technical Secondary School in the town of Embu, northeast of Nairobi, but can also be at another school close to a student’s home where they can be easily monitored.

“The school attracts youth that do not do well on national college exams and provides them an alternative opportunity to acquire marketable skills that can help them make a living,” says Father Mark Hyde, executive director of Salesian Missions, the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco. “The tuition cost of the training is highly subsidized to make it affordable for the low income student population in Kenya.”

In addition to the education provided, youth in the program are given professional counseling to help them overcome any difficulties they may face in their lives. Through counseling and other activities, the program gives youth the tools to develop a positive healthy outlook on life and the education and training necessary to find stable employment.

Two-year technical training programs are offered through Bosco Boys in a wide variety of vocational skills including tailoring, car engineering/mechanics, carpentry, electrical work and welding as well as secretarial skills and a full spectrum of computer-related job skills. After graduation more than 80 percent of graduates are employed in their fields of study. Many students go on to attend university or establish their own businesses and become entrepreneurs in Nairobi.

Eric Matata, a graduate of the Bosco Boys program, recently received his law degree from the Catholic University of Eastern Africa. He credits the rigorous education and support he received while at Bosco Boys for helping to achieve his educational dreams. Matata received financial assistance to pay for university from Heinz Rovelring through the offices of Don Bosco Mondo, Germany, as well as support from the Jasani Memorial Sterling Trust. Mr. Mathenge, a volunteer counselor from the Bosco Boys program, also contributed towards Matata’s tuition fees.

“All youth deserve a chance at a better life,” adds Fr. Hyde. “At Bosco Boys, Salesian missionaries help young people take responsibility for their own lives and train them in the skills necessary to find and retain employment in order to support themselves and improve their communities.”

Despite the steady growth of Kenya’s economy, according to UNICEF, more than half of the country’s population lives below the poverty line on less than $1 a day. UNICEF also notes that Nairobi is home to 3 million residents, most of whom endure lives of extreme poverty in the city’s slums. The most vulnerable are families and children living in these urban slums and in areas of the country most affected by HIV/AIDS. Many do not have access to healthcare, nutrition, sanitation or education.

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Sources:

Salesians of Don Bosco Province of Eastern Africa

UNICEF – Kenya Statistics

The post KENYA: Bosco Boys Programs Help Street Youth Gain an Education and Hope for the Future first appeared on MissionNewswire.

Every year since 2002, the International Labor Organization facilitates World Day Against Child Labor on June 12 to focus attention on the global extent of child labor and the action and efforts needed to eliminate it. The day brings together governments and employers, workers and civil society organizations as well as millions of people from around the world to highlight the plight of child laborers.

Each World Day Against Child Labor focuses on a particular theme with this year’s theme being, “No to Child Labor, Yes to Quality Education.” It will focus on free, compulsory and quality education for all children to at least the minimum age for admission to employment as well as action to reach those presently in child labor including new efforts to ensure that national policies on child labor and education are consistent and effective and policies that ensure access to quality education and investment in the teaching profession are in place.

The International Labor Organization’s World Report on Child Labour 2015: Paving the way to decent work for young people notes that 168 million children are engaged in illegal forms of labor, mostly in the informal economy and agriculture. Eighty-five million of these children work in severely hazardous conditions. Several million more are victims of forced labor, commercial sexual exploitation and other illicit activities.

According to the report, child labor is associated with lower educational attainment and future jobs that fail to meet basic decent work criteria. Those who leave school early are less likely to secure stable jobs and are at greater risk of chronic unemployment and poverty. The majority of those who have left school early, particularly between the ages of 15 and 17, are engaged in work that is hazardous and classified as the worst forms of child labor.

“Children who are compelled to work, even for a fraction of the day, are deprived of the education they need to learn valuable skills that lead to stable employment later in life,” says Father Mark Hyde, executive director of Salesian Missions, the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco. “Unfortunately, in many situations, children are being forced to work around the clock with barely enough time to eat, let alone study, and their prospects in life are diminished.”

In honor of World Day Against Child Labor 2015, Salesian Missions is proud to highlight a few of the Salesian programs around the globe that help to eliminate child labor through quality education.

BOLIVIA

Started in 1992, the Casa Maín girl’s home in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, provides shelter, nutritious meals and schooling for girls and young women with little access to education and those who were once living on the streets. Currently, there are more than 160 girls living and being educated at the home. Casa Maín is comprised of three houses and the girls are divided among them by age. The youngest girls, attending elementary school, live together in one house supported by several volunteer students from the secondary school. A second house provides shelter and peer support for girls attending secondary school while a third house is for young women attending the local university.

The university students enjoy a setting that allows them to finish their degrees in higher education in a stable environment while learning how to live independently. In addition to academic classes, the young women and girls at the home learn skills in communication and conflict management. Additional classes in dance, gymnastics and crafts are provided in the evenings and on weekends. Most recently, the organization offered a three-week technology workshop to teach the girls basic computer skills including typing, word processing and drawing.

INDIA

India has the largest number of child laborers under the age of 14 in the world, according to UNICEF. Many are engaged in dangerous occupations and live on the streets. As part of Operation Smile, a month long program initiated by India’s Home Ministry, more than 200 children engaged in child labor in Hyderabad, the capital of the southern Indian state of Telangana, were rescued and placed with Salesian missionaries at Don Bosco Navajeevan, a home for street and working children. According to Salesian reports, the children were rescued by city police in an apartment building where they were engaged in child labor for the bangle manufacturing industry. The children were being paid very low wages, forced to work long hours and forbidden from leaving their place of work. Further, their work exposed them to chemicals and hazardous working conditions.

Salesian missionaries living and working in India place special emphasis on rescuing and rehabilitating children engaged in child labor. Once youth are brought to Salesian-run centers they receive shelter, food and clothing. Salesian programs for the rescued youth focus on education and life skills training to help them break the cycle of poverty in order to lead productive lives free from abuse and forced labor. In addition, supplementary classes cater to those who have missed school and have fallen behind academically. This necessary extra assistance enables them to enter back into mainstream schools.

ETHIOPIA

The Bosco Children Project in Ethiopia’s capital city, Addis Ababa, has established a new orientation program called “Come and See” which serves close to 30 boys who are living on the streets. Every morning the boys are picked up by bus and taken to the center where they work, play sports and attend classes in reading and writing. They also receive life skills training on social morality, civic responsibility, hygiene and professional ethics. In the evening, the boys return to the streets. The goal is to provide street children with enough information and support to help them make the decision to enroll in the three year regular education course offered by the program.

If a boy is ready to enter the three-year course, he is provided a place to live in a Salesian-run youth hostel. His basic needs are provided for while he attends school and learns a trade. Salesian missionaries operating the Bosco Children Project also provide workforce development services to help students with the transition from the classroom into stable employment. Some boys choose to continue on with their studies at university. For those who have families, missionaries offer assistance reconnecting them with their families and settling them into school in their home villages. When needed, financial assistance is offered to enable boys to continue their education.

KENYA

The Salesian-run Bosco Boys program provides education and technical skills training to former street children in Nairobi, Kenya and is currently serving more than 600 boys and girls in primary and secondary schools and universities. The program also operates two nursery schools in the slums of Kariua and Kuwinda.

Youth living in Nairobi’s slums are at-risk for exploitation, forced labor and other abuses. Few attend the later stages of school as compared to those living in Kenya’s more rural areas. The few schools serving this disadvantaged community are beyond the financial means of most families. UNICEF noted that while Kenya has free and compulsory education, youth in poverty still cannot afford to attend school resulting in close to 90 percent of children from poor households failing to complete their basic education. The Bosco Boys program provides education and workforce development opportunities. Students in the program who complete their primary education are assisted with secondary education or are advised to choose technical training in sister institutions. The secondary education is most often provided at Don Bosco Technical Secondary School, Embu, but can also be at another school close to a student’s home where they can be easily monitored.

In addition to the education provided, youth in the program are given professional counseling to help them overcome any difficulties they may face in their lives. The program also gives youth the tools to develop a positive healthy outlook on life and the education and training necessary to find stable employment.

In addition to the education provided, youth in the program are given professional counseling to help them overcome any difficulties they may face in their lives. The program also gives youth the tools to develop a positive healthy outlook on life and the education and training necessary to find stable employment.

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Sources:

World Day Against Child Labor

International Labour Organization – New ILO study points to the long-term impact of child labour

The post WORLD DAY AGAINST CHILD LABOR: Salesian Missions Reports on Efforts to Eliminate Child Labor around the Globe first appeared on MissionNewswire.

For Salesian volunteer, Polona Dominik, a young Slovenian social worker, working with the Bosco Boys program fulfilled a lifelong dream. She came to Kenya in February 2012 and volunteered for two years with the organization. Today, she works at the headquarters for the Don Bosco East Africa Province.

“I always wanted to work with and for street children, first in my home country of Slovenia, then in Ethiopia with the Bosco Children program and later in Kenya,” says Dominik. “We had close to 200 former street boys in the Bosco Boys program in Langata and Kuwinda (suburbs of Nairobi) plus others who were under our sponsorship after completing the program at Bosco Boys. There were new requests daily for admissions, so as a social worker there was a great deal that I could do, and a great deal that I have learned which I could not have learned anywhere else.”

Youth living in Nairobi’s slums are at-risk for exploitation, forced labor and other abuses. Few attend the later stages of school as compared to those living in Kenya’s more rural areas. The few schools serving this disadvantaged community are beyond the financial means of most families. UNICEF noted that while Kenya has free and compulsory education, youth in poverty still cannot afford to attend school resulting in close to 90 percent of children from poor households failing to complete their basic education.

“I met children and their families with stories of suffering, poverty, negligence, abuse and devastation,” adds Dominik. “Every day I was meeting boys whose families were absent or unable to provide food, shelter and education so youth were forced to look after themselves by stealing or by earning a little through jobs on the street. There are countless numbers of children living like this in the slums of Nairobi and only a small percentage have the possibility of rehabilitation in a center like Bosco Boys.”

The Bosco Boys program provides education and workforce development opportunities. Students in the program who complete their primary education are assisted with secondary education or are advised to choose technical training in sister institutions. The secondary education is most often provided at Don Bosco Technical Secondary School, Embu, but can also be at another school close to a student’s home where they can be easily monitored.

In addition to the education provided, youth in the program are given professional counseling to help them overcome any difficulties they may face in their lives. The program also gives youth the tools to develop a positive healthy outlook on life and the education and training necessary to find stable employment.

Despite the steady growth of Kenya’s economy, according to UNICEF, more than half of the country’s population lives below the poverty line on less than one US dollar a day. UNICEF also notes that Kenya’s capital city, Nairobi, is home to 3 million residents, most of whom endure lives of extreme poverty in the city’s slums. The most vulnerable are families and children living in these urban slums and in areas of the country most affected by HIV/AIDS. Many do not have access to healthcare, nutrition, sanitation and education.

Sources

ANS – Kenya – “There is nothing nobler or more important in the world than saving the lives of needy children”

UNICEF – Kenya

The post KENYA: Salesian-run Bosco Boys Programs Provides Education to More Than 600 Poor Youth first appeared on MissionNewswire.

Few youth residing in Nairobi’s slums attend the later stages of school as compared to those living in Kenya’s more rural areas. The few schools serving this disadvantaged community are beyond the financial means of most families. UNICEF noted that while Kenya has free and compulsory education, youth in poverty still cannot afford to attend school resulting in close to 90 percent of children from poor households failing to complete their basic education.

Residents in Kenya also face water and sanitation shortages with 17.5 million people lacking safe water and 31.7 million lacking access to sanitation services, according to Water.org. There is only a small percentage of the country’s land that is optimal for agriculture and the year-round climate is predominantly arid. Kenya’s water shortage results in a large population of women and children spending up to one-third of their day transporting water in the hot sun from the nearest fresh water source. In addition to exposure to the elements and risk of attack by predators, women and children are also the most susceptible to water-borne diseases.

Salesian missionaries across Kenya are dedicated to ensuring that access to safe water is a priority in Salesian-run programs and schools and in the communities in which they operate.

To address the need for clean, safe water, a water borehole project is underway at the Salesian-run Bosco Boys community in Nairobi, Kenya. The project has been made possible thanks to the generosity of donors and entails removing all the pipes and the electric pump in an existing 250 meter borehole, cleaning the pipes, replacing rotten ones and removing a massive amount of mud. The restoration project will ensure proper function of a well on the property while providing clean, safe water for students and faculty at Bosco Boys.

“From safe drinking water and healthy sanitation to agriculture, water is essential for life,” says Father Mark Hyde, executive director of Salesian Missions, the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco. “Salesian Missions has made building wells and other projects that supply fresh, clean water a top priority for every community in every country in which Salesian missionaries work.”

The Bosco Boys program serves former street children of Nairobi, providing education for more than 600 boys and girls in primary and secondary schools and universities. In addition, the program offers two nursery schools in the slums of Kariua and Kuwinda for young children as well as technical skills training for older youth.

Students in the program who complete their primary education are assisted with secondary education or are advised to choose technical training in sister institutions. The secondary education is most often provided at Don Bosco Technical Secondary School, Embu, but can also be at another school close to a student’s home where they can be easily monitored.

In addition to the education provided, youth in the program are given professional counseling to help them overcome any difficulties they may face in their lives. The program also gives youth the tools to develop a positive healthy outlook on life and the education and training necessary to find stable employment.

Sources

UNICEF – Poverty in Kenya

Water.org – Kenya

The post KENYA: Water Project at Salesian Bosco Boys Ensures Clean Safe Water for Students and Faculty first appeared on MissionNewswire.

Few youth residing in Nairobi’s slums attend the later stages of school as compared to those living in Kenya’s more rural areas. The few schools serving this disadvantaged community are beyond the financial means of most families. UNICEF noted that while Kenya has free and compulsory education, youth in poverty still cannot afford to attend school resulting in close to 90 percent of children from poor households failing to complete their basic education.

Peter Ndung’u was raised in Kawangware, one of Nairobi’s slums. One of seven children, he grew up in poverty without access to education, proper shelter or nutritious food and with a mother addicted to alcohol causing her to be abusive and neglectful of her children. At a young age he lost one sibling to a fire that tore through the slum and another to suicide. Peter was forced to beg for food to survive.

“I was living a life of horror and fear and these circumstances eventually forced me to flee from the slums and join my friends in the streets,” explains Peter. “It is at this point that the harsh reality of life hit me hard. Life as a street boy is like living in the jungle. Survival is for the fittest and being in a gang is the cardinal rule for security and hustling for food and a place to rest at night.”

Although he always had a strong desire to learn and gain an education, the opportunity was not available to him until he met the Salesian Sisters of the Precious Blood Sisters in Riruta, Kawangware who were offering free lunch to street boys and families. The Salesian Sisters recognized Peter’s desire to learn and introduced him to Bosco Boys, Kuwinda where he joined a street youth rehabilitation program and then was chosen to become a student at St. Mary’s primary school.

The Bosco Boys program helps former street children in Nairobi, providing education and technical skills training for more than 600 boys and girls in primary and secondary schools and universities. In addition, the program offers two nursery schools in the slums of Kariua and Kuwinda.

Those who complete their primary education are assisted with gaining a secondary education or are advised to choose technical training at sister institutions. Secondary education can be undertaken at Don Bosco Technical Secondary School, Embu, or any other school close to a student’s home where they can be easily monitored.

In addition to the education provided, youth in the program are given professional counseling to help them overcome the difficulties they face in their lives. The program gives youth the tools to develop a positive healthy outlook on life and the education and training necessary to find stable employment.

Peter remained in Salesian schools through high school and after his graduation in 2010, Father Sebastian Chirayath, director of Bosco Boys, gave Peter an opportunity to volunteer for one year as a computer teacher and an eighth grade assistant. Father Chirayath then helped to secure a college scholarship for Peter who is currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree in international relations with a major in foreign policy and diplomacy at International University in the United States.

“I urge all the young people out there to go forward and gather a little courage to face the insurmountable mountains of problems before them and grab any opportunities to make their dreams come true,” adds Peter.

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Sources:

UNICEF – Poverty in Kenya

Don Bosco Eastern Africa Salesian Family Bulletin 1^st Quarter February 2014 – One Day I Will Tell My Story

The post KENYA: From Life in Nairobi’s Slums to College Student at International University first appeared on MissionNewswire.