MENTORSHIP: Stellar Girls Kenya & Grace Nanana Rescue Centre, Kajiado.

-
GRACE Nanana is a rescue center where Maasai girls escape the illegal but still practiced customs of early marriage and female genital mutilation in order to pursue education. Full-time housing and care for the girls is provided on-site at Nanana Winbridge Education School, located in Kajiado town, Kenya. GRACE Nanana works to educate and empower girls to choose the life they want to live.

On Saturday, 19th March 2022, the Centre's management extended an invitation to Stellar Girls Kenya to facilitate a whole day's mentoring session for their girls on pressing and reoccurring matters which include but are not limited to:
  1. Academics/Education (Importance and benefits to the gir
    l child, tips for balancing with talents, career options, etc)
  2. Early Child Marriages (Its illegality and setbacks)
  3. Female Genital Mutilation (its horrors and demystifying its myths and misconceptions)
  4. Childhood & General Life trauma (Overcoming and growing past them)
  5. Menstrual Health Hygiene Management
Our team of 5 Stellar mentors meticulously handled these topics with grace, grit and ease while at the same time setting a platform for discussions with the 23 girls and 1 boy present. To our amazement, the girls made us aware of some unsettling myths that they, at a tender age (16 years and below), have heard being casually thrown around regarding FGM. Few that raised our eyebrows include:
  • Without FGM, a girl cannot get a husband to marry & value her
  • Without FGM, child birth is expected to be a horrid experience & will involve so much pain
  • Without FGM, no one will want to touch her blood during childbirth, as it would be considered ‘unclean’.
With mentorship sessions and talks like the one we had, their mindset is set to change. They get to be exposed to a different kind of world and environment where girls flourish without having to pass through these outdated ‘rites of passage’. Stellar Girls Kenya is honored to be a part of the people changing the narrative and challenging regressive cultural traditions that hinder a girl’s education, elevation and empowerment.

Comments

Post a Comment

Leave a comment here...

Popular posts from this blog

ROOFTOP

-
After exactly 3 months and 11 days, today I went back up the stairs to the rooftop of the apartment we stay at. Trembling and shaking, I kept taking a step after the next hoping to get to the top. Several times I kept thinking, …why go? …but kept at it regardless. On this rooftop, I had set a very calm meeting place with my Father. For about 3 months leading to the delivery of my darling baby girl, I'd come up here, do some simple workouts but most importantly have a daily tete-a-tete with Him. I couldn't and still can't wrap my head around the fatigue that comes with the 3rd trimester and rightly so, many times I contemplated not going up there. What made me keep up with the routine was the fact that I knew He was waiting for me and was eager to talk about how far and smooth my pregnancy journey was.   We'd talk about my hopes, dreams and plans for baby in my tummy. We'd discuss my maternity leave plans and among other things mostly just sit in the silence of dawn
Read more

MY VALENTINE

-
My darling husband 💖, You were worth the wait! Remember when we were just friends, the first time I told you that I have a personal blog; a haven I occasionally dump my stories & thoughts?...to which you carefully listened then asked: “Will you one day write about me on your blog?”  I laughed!! I laughed so hard then told you how for you to feature in my writing you’d have to be out-of-this-world special to me ... to which you thoughtfully responded: “Mercy, never say never!” ….. and then went on a mission to overturn my entire life!! You clever, genius hunk of a man! 😉😉 I’m here today to categorically say that a blogpost is the least of what you, my elusive leading man, deserve! The universe kept saying “The right person will show up, find a path into your heart and know how to hold your love with all the delicateness it deserves, choose you just as deeply as they choose themselves and as you choose them, reciprocate your vibe, match your energy and never make you feel like yo
Read more

1 of 4

-
The world didn't quite prepare me for the experience that came with this phase of my life. I boast occasionally of how easy it has been for me to grasp and adapt to changes in my life but this one, naah ...I had to readjust, relearn and extensively educate myself. What I'm I talking about, you ask? Motherhood. I am writing this while on my 3rd trimester; 35 weeks & 6 days to be precise. The once subtle baby kicks are now more defined you'd think the baby's made my womb a mixed martial art ring. It feels heavenly every time it happens and I am not joking when I say that I live for them kicks...I could be having a really crappy day but anytime I sit and the kicks intensify, my mood instantly changes!  The reason I started by saying that the world didn't quite prepare me for the journey is because with my many years of schooling and seeking knowledge, I realized that I didn't know much about pregnancy. I was never taught about what to expect in any of the trime
Read more