Key people: Jemima, George and Mary
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We visited with Jemima and Mary in Kigali and Musanze where they have the Youth Renewed teen mum’s empowerment programmes running.
They are in partnership with an international organization called Young Life whose vision it is to evangelism and disciple young mums globally, through preaching the gospel, running camps, youth clubs and campaigns. George, Jemima’s husband, works for Young Life and Youth Renewed grew out of Young Life. Many young people were coming into the group and becoming Christians but because of poverty were making dumb decisions.
Through Young Life the Youth Renewed team develops relationships with young mothers who are struggling with life. Young Life has no vision to help the teen mums holistically, so that is why they are involved - to help give them hope in this life to earn a living. Youth Renewed also has a football programme, mainly among boys, but some girls are involved as well.
The teen mums are often kicked out of home by their families to fend for themselves, or if they stay at home it is only because the family says “well, I gave birth to you so what else can I do”. They then often end up being used as house workers but are not paid or given money to provide for their needs and their children’s needs.
Sadly, often the only way these young mums can earn a living is to continue to have men in their houses who pay them a little money.
We visited 2 groups:
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Here there are 24 teen mums registered with the group, of which eight in year 1 and seven in year 2 have been trained in hair braiding. Several have also been trained to sew in Kigali. A local business owner has provided them with the training for six months at a cost of 30,000 Francs (US$27) per month. They come for training six days per week for a whole day, starting by watching, then practice on a doll, before they are allowed to assist as apprentices. Once they have completed training, they can hire a chair and other equipment in the shop to start trying to attract customers. The cost of hiring is 30,000 Francs (US$27) per month.
One of the girls, Angelique, who has finished training has managed to hire a space in the current shop. She tells us that there are other spaces available for them if they have the funds to pay up front.
Many women in Rwanda get their hair braided, it is very fashionable, so the market for the skill does exist. It takes between 5 to 8 hours to complete the braiding which includes hair washing and possibly hair extensions. They charge on average 15,000 to 20,000 Francs per client. In a week, they may have anywhere between zero to fourteen clients, so an average of five per week, once they are established. After costs they could earn up to 300,000 Francs (US$240) in a good month. It does take time to get clients as they become more proficient at the art.
Three of the teen mums have managed to start working by going to clients’ houses and braiding hair in the home. This is because they cannot afford the 30,000 Francs upfront cost to hire a space and chair. They say it is a really good week if they can get three to four clients.
We chatted with six of the teen mums, Sarah, Diana, Angelique, Fanny, Nadia and Dinah. Their children are all aged between 4 and 9 years old. Of the group, Fanny has managed to get married to a “really good man” called Sampson, and she now has a second child with her husband. They all found out about the empowerment training programme from the Young Life programmes. They all were going to church when they got pregnant and found that life was very tough afterwards. The churches were not equipped to help them, and their families are ashamed of them to the point where some were kicked out of home.
Their friends just mocked them saying “ha, didn’t you even know how to do family planning? Stupid!”. When we asked them, how do they think early pregnancies could be stopped for others, they said “Only just pray to God, because how else do young woman get money for themselves to live”.
They have found a lot of hope in this programme. Since some of them have been trained and secured some business, their own families and friends are no longer despising them as they are providing for themselves. The teens say that being able to provide for themselves gives them hope, and that one day even they will be able to help others.
The group are obviously very close to each other and the leaders. Angelique really wants to help the others get a business up and running as she has seen the benefit in her life, living alone with her child, of being self-sustaining paying her rent, buying food and clothes and sending her child to school. They hope that one day they can meet a good man at church to marry.
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There are 45 teen mums in the group and 10 graduated from a sewing training programme this year with a similar number in the first year. Musanze is around a 3-hour drive from Kigali, and Mary visits there once or twice a year. There are two leaders from Young Life working in the area and helping the girls, Mutamba and Mutoni. The training programme at the local tailoring school lasts for 12 months, and they go for five days per week. Those that have finished are still waiting for their certificates.
We met with 22 teen mums and heard about how life was for them. There is a wide range of ages of the children, from 6 months to 10-years-old for these ladies. Some of them also have more than one child as they have had to continue trying to generate any income they can to support themselves and their children.
Most live in the local villages, between 5 to 10 km from the main centre of Musanze. These are very small simple houses that are quite close together, with no facilities. Just over half of them live alone with their children, while the others are staying with their families but are not treated very well. The main income for those families is subsistence farming to grow enough food for the family to eat.
None of them managed to finish their secondary education, dropping out from grade 6 to grade 11. The government has pushed for girls in their circumstances to return to school and finish, but the big issue is if they go to school who will look after their children?
The sewing programme has provided the teen mums with some hope to see a future where they can be self-sustaining. The biggest challenge they currently have is a lack of funds to purchase the manual treadle power machines that cost 140,000 Francs (US$105).
Currently three of those trained have managed to hire some machines to make items of clothing to order and have been making some profit to help with family expenses. It was obvious which of the three were doing this, re the clothes and handbags that they were wearing. There is a large market for sewing they say, and even possibilities to get contracts to make school uniforms.
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Mary works as a pastor for the Christian Life Assembly in the Kabona area. There are around 250 members in her church. She has been married for 29 years and her husband works as an administrator for the same church nationally. They have four adult children, two are working and two are at university. Mary is the sister to George, who is married to Jemima. Their other sister Alice is also involved on the board, and we also met Damasenes, a friend of George who is on the board.
Mary’s dad, although a polygamist with three wives, was still a man that prayed every day and had faith in God. He was Anglican and her mother was Catholic. Mary was unable to finish her schooling due to a lack of funds. Throughout her life she has given the hurts of growing up in this situation to God and feels such a sweetness from Him that she can pray and share with the rest of all of her family, 21 children from the three wives. Many of the family have now accepted Christ.
After she was married, she felt God telling her to go and study so she did. She completed her schooling, then travelling each week to Uganda she completed a two-year diploma at Glad Tidings Kampala University in bible and theology. She continues to study doing her undergraduate and masters.
Her heart is for serving people and she lights up when talking about this. One story she tells is of an asthmatic lady who was in hospital that she visited each day, helping to change her soiled clothes and keep her clean, pray and encourage her. The lady was so surprised, saying “what is this, a pastor serving me?”. She also used to work very closely with HIV/AIDS victims.
Her involvement in the teen mums programme is a volunteer position that she sees as very needed given the situation these precious teenagers find themselves in.
The girls in the programme are obviously very connected to the group and love to come together. For those who have been trained there is an extra connection. They understand the importance of being able to earn an income and become self-sustaining. They do not want to remain in prostitution to live, they hate it and what it does to them.
At the heart of what they want to do is to have a place where the girls can come to be cared for, trained, mentored and discipled. This is their big dream.
The next step is to establish these small businesses so the girls can work and become stable. In future budgets they will include the provision of sewing machines and equipment.
- The need to provide employment for the girls
- The huge number of girls who daily have to do unspeakable things to survive
- For all the children born into these circumstances
1) That many girls have already completed training
2) That they will be able to be set up small businesses that are successful in providing for their needs
3) For the thousands of young people who are trapped in poverty, economic and spiritual
The team is looking at how they can not only continue to provide skills training to the teen mums but empower them after training with capital items and the space to run their own businesses.
They have realized that the girls will continue to be frustrated if they are trained but not able to set themselves up to earn a living either as a group or individually. So, the two plans are being developed for both sewing and braiding.