In Northern Kenya, Sauti Moja is working to better the lives of girls and young women who face discrimination due to early, out-of-wedlock pregnancies. These girls and young women represent some of the most stigmatized and discriminated people in this area, often forced to leave their families and communities and live in destitution due to pregnancies often resulting from sexual exploitation.  Sauti Moja provides them with counsel, scholarships for school, and opportunities to start small businesses.  We are committed to restoring hope for these girls and ensuring healthy futures for them.

• What is the challenge?
• How are we responding?
• What have we achieved?

The Challenge

Within the pastoralist communities of east Africa, there is a large variation in attitudes regarding sexual relations amongst unwed youth, and attitudes toward pregnant girls. In northern Kenya, several ethnic groups maintain a very conservative responses to out-of-wedlock pregnancy. Despite the fact that girls usually have little control over sexual choices, and that most pregnancies result from rape or other forms of sexual exploitation, a pregnant girl is often cast out of the community due to the shame surrounding her pregnancy.  She faces abandonment from friends and often the  family, as well being chased from school.  These child mothers usually travel to larger town centers, such as Marsabit, in hope of finding refuge and a means of support for themselves and their babies. They may beg from acquaintances, work as occasional and poorly-paid laborers, and/or exchange sexual favours for money or other support. These girls and their children carry a stigma for life, and are the most vulnerable to poverty, HIV/AIDS, and poor health.

Our Response

• Counselling. This program is implemented by local health educators  who collaborate with school officials and local leaders to identify pregnant girls. They visit the chld mothers and assure them of support for a new start.  This affirmation is integral to the girls’ psychological health and their ability to overcome the odds set against them.
• Family Mediation. Sauti Moja volunteers work to restore family relationships and intervene in cases of abuse or neglect.  Sometimes, this takes years.
• Legal Advocacy. In cases of sexual abuse, Sauti Moja supports girls to file a police report and put girls in contact with legal organizations that will help them with any relevant legal proceedings.  Sauti Moja will fund any legal support required.
• Health and Human Rights Education. Sauti Moja conducts workshops and retreats for Child Mothers, where they learn more about sexual and reproductive health issues, as well as their rights as women and children.
• Scholarship Programs. Sauti Moja emphasizes the importance of achieving a good education, as the hope for an illiterate girl becoming self-sufficient s small.  Whenever possible, we help Child Mothers return to school.  Usually, this means returning to secondary school (equivalent to high school) but sometimes, it is primary school. We anticipate eventually expanding this support to include college or university education.
• Micro-business Development (Income Generating Activities).  When Child Mothers are unable or unwilling to return, Sauti Moja helps them to become more economically self-sufficient by providing training and helping them to set-up and operate a small business, such as livestock trading, tailoring, and shop-keeping.  However, the success rate for girls is low, due to challenges of illiteracy, limited markets, lack of purchasing power in droughts, and limited access to marketable goods.