Today is International Women’s Day, created to commemorate women’s fight for equality and liberation, and a call to action for the continued advocacy of women's rights. Among these rights is the right to education. And yet, for many facing extreme poverty, schooling is simply not within reach. For families forced to choose between putting food on the table and supporting a child’s education, schooling can quickly become a luxury. When resources are limited, girls are often the first to lose the opportunity to continue their studies. For many young women, that decision can alter the entire trajectory of their lives.
Yvonne didn’t believe in herself at first. Yvonne is one of seven children. Her father is physically disabled, and although her mother tries to provide, the family lives in extreme material poverty. Wanting to contribute, Yvonne dropped out of school to look for odd jobs. Then she became a mother at just 17, but her boyfriend abandoned them; and her daughter was sickly. Parenting felt overwhelming, yet another burden to shoulder.
Gladys is one of Neema’s Weekend Matrons and also a Childcare Worker. As a matron, she works to assure the young women are healthy and doing their work throughout the day. As a childcare worker, Gladys makes sure the children are cared for during the day while their mothers are in class. Read her story!
Earlier this week Neema celebrated the graduation of nine young women! It was a colorful day full of joy and excitement. Over 350 attended, including guardians, members of the local community, children, and Neema staff and students.
Maria* was still a young teenager when she discovered she was pregnant. Her pregnancy unfortunately meant the end of school; without reliable support from the baby's father or her family, the idea of continuing education while raising a baby seemed impossible. It was at this time in her life that she heard about Neema’s program for young women — including teenage mothers. At Neema, Maria began working through her shame and pain, found peace in her role as a mother, and ultimately fell in love with her daughter.
“This year has been the best of my life,” one student shared. “I feel proud as I see myself creating beautiful designs. After living most of my life in rejection and stress, this year has brought me hope. The fashion show made me believe in myself.”
“We thought we were only learning to make clothes, but we learned [so much more]—catering, making bags, how to pray,” Iddah says. “Today I’m a prayerful person. When we got stressed, we could go to counseling. Someone would talk to you and you would be okay. We learned how to live with others peacefully.”
In Neema’s region of Kenya, few girls finish secondary school. Many girls shoulder adult burdens—heavy domestic burdens, early marriage, and motherhood—before they’re grown. Unfortunately, when girls miss out on literacy and vocational training, they often struggle to afford schooling for their own children—passing poverty on to the next generation. That’s why skills training is so central to Neema’s vision to unleash opportunity for young women.
The trip taught me a lot more than I was expecting. It taught me to dance and sing without caring what other people think. It taught me how far confidence and hope can take you in life. It taught me to love and laugh so loudly that other people have no choice but to take part in it.
This summer, I left behind my day-to-day world as a suburban mother of four— a world of dance classes and laundry piles—to fly across the ocean, desert, and mountains and visit the world of Neema Project, a program for resilient young women in rural Kenya.
For the first time ever, we hosted a community run raising funds for mental health support for at-risk children and youth at the local school! We were blown away by the local and international support. Our team hosted an incredible event with over 300 school children participating. The counseling services that will now provide for hundreds at-risk children and youth! Thank YOU for making this happen.
Jackline works specifically in trauma-informed counseling because she sees that trauma pushes people to the edge. She works to help people find joy again as they heal.
In many rural Kenyan communities, Christian faith is familiar — but for young women, the opportunity to explore Scripture personally is often out of reach. With limited access to Bibles and education, their understanding of God is shaped more by secondhand messages than by thoughtful engagement, leaving them vulnerable to confusion or imbalance.
Lydiah was raised by her mother after her father passed away while her mother was still pregnant. Life was hard. They struggled for basic needs like food, clothes, and education. She did manage to go to school until grade 12, but was unable to go to college because she lacked the fees.
Jentrix used to do casual jobs, such as washing peoples clothes, but with her job at Neema she is now able to support her children, her two parents, and her brother financially.
Now at Neema, Martin has an income that allows him to support his wife, six children, and his two brothers. On top of that, he gets to help the young women at Neema. Martin ensures that the compound and his Neema family are safe. He helps provide the students, their children, and the staff with a level of security and comfort that allows them to learn and find a renewed sense of hope.
Nearly half the young women who join Neema are already mothers themselves. Still teenagers, these young moms face deep emotional wounds. With their infants come months of hardship: dropping out of school, finding casual labor, enduring shame and stigma from loved ones, the heartbreak of being abandoned by the child’s father—on top of the exhaustion that comes with all newborns and the challenges of living on less than $2/day in rural Kenya. But hope is not lost. These young mothers have found a place of transformation.
As a counselor, Pamela understands what the young women go through at home and she has been able to help them restore physically, mentally, and emotionally. She helps prepare them to face the world. She has a passion for working with the young women and teaching them to find the best solutions to their problems.
Brenda Rewrites Her Narrative: Making a way out of extreme poverty, Brenda found restoration, was equipped to provide for her son, and began a new chapter in her life.
Yvonne didn’t believe in herself at first. Yvonne is one of seven children. Her father is physically disabled, and although her mother tries to provide, the family lives in extreme material poverty. Wanting to contribute, Yvonne dropped out of school to look for odd jobs. Then she became a mother at just 17, but her boyfriend abandoned them; and her daughter was sickly. Parenting felt overwhelming, yet another burden to shoulder.