Women of Hope has a NEW partner in Kenya! Our team is eager to announce HHI’s latest partnership with the Soaring Eagle Community Transformation Education Centre (SECTEC) in western Kenya! With a grant from Women of Hope, Hunger to Harvest Trainer, Augustus Kimanzi, launched SECTEC. Many of the girls in Augustus’ village finish middle school, but they don’t have the financial or logistical means to continue on to high school. Now, this center is providing income-earning opportunities for vulnerable youth through teaching and developing tailoring skills.
SECTEC provides education, food, and boarding at a sliding scale so that everyone has an opportunity to participate. “Just because someone is needy, we cannot turn them away. They are the ones who need to be here,” says Augustus Kimanzi.
The obstacles many of these girls face are more than financial. Some of them have severe foot injuries. SECTEC has accommodated these injuries by providing hand-powered sewing machines. Others are living with HIV/AIDS, so SECTEC shifts its schedule to meet the needs of those with doctor’s visits and medication needs. SECTEC is taking a holistic approach to engage the financial, physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of its students.
In its first semester, the center has enrolled 21 students in a two-year tailoring program led by vocational instructor, Madame Elizabeth. Within just two weeks the girls have learned to sew shirts, and some of the older girls are making dresses and bags that they sell in a storefront at SECTEC. As the center grows it hopes to expand its offerings including hairdressing, computer skills, and agriculture. We are so grateful for this new partnership, and we look forward to seeing how God works through this center and raises up these young women to be blessings to their community.
Your gifts allow us to support initiatives just like SECTEC that empower and equip young women around the world. God is writing a beautiful story with your generosity. Will you help write the next chapter?