PROJECT Activities The school was started with the aim of having members of the community have access to education and more so the girl child. In this community, differences between man and woman dictate a difference in their social roles and this reinforces a notion that men are more superior to women. Capacity building will provide both men and women with political insight and moral support in confronting gender issues. A woman’s social status has led to marginalization. This was the very reason of starting the school so as to empower the girl child. The project involves different types of activities. These include:
TYPE OF WORK CAMP:
MANU/EDU Volunteers will work for six hours daily from Monday to Friday.
Manual work and Intercultural activities:
•School construction •Teaching primary school pupils •Tree planting •Stones collection and pathways clearing •Sensitization of the community on the side effects of FGM •Home visits and topical discussion with the local people
THEME:
GENDER SENSITIVITY: FOCUS ON FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION (FGM) •Female genital mutilation is a strong tradition in this community. It is illegal. But still more than one third of the women are circumcised and each and every young woman is subjected to the cut. •The church has preached against FGM for decades but in spite of the deep devoutness the priests do not have enough power over the souls. •FGM has nothing to do with religion; it is a so-called culture and tradition in certain groups. • The practice is deeply rooted in views on chastity, transition to womanhood, “purity” for marriage and basically a wish to control women sexually. In certain areas the survival and fertility of the local community is assumed to be threatened if the girls are not circumcised. Many brave young girls who refuse FGM are regarded as “unmarriageable” and become outcasts. •It is a brutal act, painful and has led to the spread of HIV/AIDS. Volunteers will be required to liaise with other Non-Governmental organizations like Red Cross in creation of awareness to the community.
•The idea was prompted by the growing need to sensitive members of the local community on the plight of Children with disabilities, who continue to suffer neglect and denial as the society remains conservative and unwilling to attend to children with disabilities Volunteer tasks •Teaching pupils at the special Unit School • Care and support of orphans •Help children with sanitation issues such as: brushing teeth, showering, and establishing and maintaining personal hygiene •Organize games, drawing lessons, singing sessions, dancing, and other creative, educational and extracurricular activities •Brick making together with local community •Open forums for discussion on children rights •Study lessons on retrogressive cultural practices like Female Genital Mutilation •Submit project report to KVDA
Project:
Financial contribution •The project participation fees is Euro 200 per month paid upfront on arrival to the cover costs stipulated the entire duration of the project. Monthly payment of participation fees is not allowed for conventional purposes. Volunteers accepted on MLTV project for one month will pay Euros 300 for the one month placement. What is included in the participation fee? •Return transfers from the airport •Full board at the project (Accommodation and meals provided at the project) •Orientation, evaluation and monitoring •Volunteer mentorship What is not included in the participation fee? •Travel to and from the project. The volunteer will be required to pay for the bus tickets •Refreshments outside the project •Air ticket, Excursion, Visa and Insurance •Local travel and Personal effects
ACCOMMODATION AND MEALS •Home stay and the volunteer is entitled to private room but will share other amenities and meals with the host family.
The group consists of 15 professional actors and actresses, some of them are musicians and modern / traditional dancers, narrators, comedians, poets. THE CURRENT PROJECT ACTIVITIES THE GIRL CHILD RIGHTS AND WOMEN EMPOWERNMENT IN KURIA COMMUNITY OF SOUTHERN NYANZA REGION OF KENYA. The group uses live performances (drama) participation education theatre in the above centres in open forums particularly at market centers, fields, chief camps and churches to appeal to people to change their negative mind set on girl child rights and women empowerment
The group creates platforms through play performances which focuses on importance of girl child rights and women empowerment. This drama methodology is friendly to local people which eventually motivates the viewers to discuss and understand challenges, difficulties and misfortunes facing girl child rights and women empowerment in play situation like FGM, early girl child pregnancy, high rate of school girl drop outs, early girl child marriages and big education discrimination between girl child and boy child. The play situation is quite relevant and real to their day to day life. In this case, most families in Kuria do not educate girl child since they negotiate their dowry and marriages at early age of even 12 years, hence large number of girls drop out f schools, particularly after undergoing FGM, whereby the Kuria traditional and cultural practices see such girls mature for marriages and source of income, some of the girls when they undergo FGM face dangers HIV/ AIDS, over bleeding which may lead to death and fistula.
TYPE OF WORKCAMP:
PERFORMING ARTS Volunteers will work for six hours daily from Monday to Friday.
Manual work and Intercultural activities:
•Performing arts •Training on the rights of women as partners in marriage •Training on conflict management for man and women • Sensitization campaigns on domestic violence among law enforcement agencies •Cleaning living quarters •Home visits •Cultural days for various nationalities •Translation of thematic focus of the project together with the local people
THEME:
Training of Trainers on conflict management Perception that men are superior in the homes negatively impacts on relationships between men and women with the preponderance of gender based violence
« I can say that the best things about the workcamp and this whole experience were the chance of making a real difference to the lives of very needy children. This is an extremely valuable project where volunteers can have a massive impact. Also the possibility of learning a huge amount about a country so different from our own. I learnt ten times as much by carrying out a workcamp than I would ever do backpacking. »
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