Why a World Day against Human Trafficking?

The World Day against Trafficking in Persons is an annual event held on July 30th of every year. People trafficking and modern day slavery is a massive worldwide problem with very few countries immune to human trafficking, and the event by the United Nations is to raise awareness and increase prevention of that. Children make up almost a third of all human trafficking victims worldwide, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime Global Report on Trafficking in Persons. Additionally, women and girls comprise 71 percent of human trafficking victims, the report states.

In 2010, the General Assembly adopted the Global Plan of Action to Combat Trafficking in Persons, urging Governments worldwide to take coordinated and consistent measures to defeat this scourge. The Plan calls for integrating the fight against human trafficking into the UN’s broader programmes in order to boost development and strengthen security worldwide. One of the crucial provisions in the Plan is the establishment of a UN Voluntary Trust Fund for victims of trafficking, specially women and children.

The Trust Fund facilitates effective, on-the-ground assistance and protection to victims of trafficking, through grants to specialised NGOs. In the coming years, it aims to prioritise victims coming from a context of armed conflict and those identified among large refugee and migration flows. It will also focus its assistance to victims trafficked for the purpose of sexual exploitation, organ removal, forced begging, forced criminality and emerging exploitative purposes (e.g. skin removal, online pornography).

In 2013, the General Assembly held a high-level meeting to appraise the Global Plan of Action. Member States also adopted resolution A/RES/68/192 and designated July 30 as the World Day against Trafficking in Persons. This resolution declared that such a day was necessary to “raise awareness of the situation of victims of human trafficking and for the promotion and protection of their rights.”

In September 2015, the world adopted the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda and embraced goals and targets on trafficking in persons. These goals call for an end to trafficking and violence against children; as well as the need for measures against human trafficking, and they strive for the elimination of all forms of violence against and exploitation of women and girls.

Another important development is the UN Summit for Refugees and Migrants, which produced the groundbreaking New York Declaration. Of the nineteen commitments adopted by countries in the Declaration, three are dedicated to concrete action against the crimes of human trafficking and migrant smuggling.

On the 2018 World Day against Trafficking in Persons, UNODC focuses on ‘responding to the trafficking of children and young people’. This year’s campaign highlights the fact that almost a third of trafficking victims are children. Hence, the theme draws attention to the issues faced by trafficked children and to possible action initiatives linked to safeguarding and ensuring justice for child victims.

Sp🕷der Update 3 🕷🕷

Strengthening the Web 🕸 against Human Trafficking

1. Spider Counter Trafficking Awareness Info

A simple way to educate the public against human trafficking has been developed by team KBH. This info will provide KBH and TBH educational material for the public. The Tanzanian Team is already translating the info pack to Kiswahili.

2. TBH Logo
TBH have developed their logo. The logo is a rich and rotund blue heart. The right side of the logo is beautifully ardoned with the colours of the Tanzanian Flag. Hongera💪🏿 Team Tanzania!

3. Awareness Activities

Nairobi – Bella Academy

The Nairobi team: Chair Mike Kasongo and Sanalimu Team, Ida and Bridged on 26th July 2018 visited Bella Academy and educated the children there. The team used highly creative methods to educate children mostly under 7.😁😁😁

Dar es Salaam – Shree Hindu Mandal School

The Dar team Chairman Francis, Frey, Imani and Mike Asenga took the counter human trafficking campaign to Shree Hindu Mandal primary School on 30th July 2018. On a light note a naughty boy asked what about wakati waalimu wanatuadhibu. Si hiyo pia ni human trafficking? What a question to the sp🕷ders 🤣🤣!

Building the Capacity of Spiders🏋🏿‍♀

The spiders have continued educating themselves about human trafficking. They follow keenly on the sad stories of trafficking in Libya and other parts of the world.

4. Research submissions📃📄

Nairobi

The Kenya team has submitted a paper to international conference on Safe Migration evaluating the implementation of the Kenyan Anti trafficking law.

Dar es Salaam

The Tz team has also submitted a paper to the above conference exposing the reality of child trafficking in Tanzania.

5. Plans📈📊

a. Letters of Gratitude

Letters of gratitude and request for further collaborations to be sent to institutions that invited us.

b. Introducing the Kards life skills training

Life skills trainings to schools using age appropriate educational methodologies will be marketed to schools, homes, Tvs and young adult programmes as a way to raise domestic resources to finance our campaigns.

c. Getting collaborators to help produce the story of Neema

The story of Neema was first produced at the Shree Hindu Mandal Primary School. This was a test production and has given us a picture of eventually developing a good trailer. With this experience we shall approach various producers to collaborate in its production including Donors, private sector and other interested institutions.

Fellow Sp🕷ders Let us continue to strenghen the Web 🕸🕸 against Human Trafficking!

Sp🕷ders Brochure

Strenthen🕷ng the Web 🕸 Against Human Trafficking

Fellow Spiders,

SPIDERS BROCHURE

Who is a victim of Human Trafficking?

The victim is an innocent person (adult or child) , international or domestic , who is manipulated, lied to and fall victim to various exploitations.

Risk Factors
1. Poverty and corruption
2. Country and communities with high rate of crimes and unrest.
3. Lack of opportunities for education
4. Lack of family support e.g. homelessness , ophans
5. People with history of abuse in the past.

How is the victim recruited?

Despite the general awareness and knowledge of the associated pain and trauma, a number of people become victims of human trafficking each year.

The victims are falsely promised of great opportunities in work, study, education and better life.

Due to poverty and lack of adequate education, several victims are quick to believe the promises hence they do not question the offers made .

The traffickers

Despite national education and mass campaigns, the general public are still not able to identify the traffickers and instead refer to them as “sponsors “.

Traffickers are well organized networks, travel agents, family members and friends who facilitate the human trafficking process.

Circumstances of a Victim in the Hands of a Trafficker

Many international victims are brought to their destination countries illegally. The illegal entry is then used as a form of control.

Many victims part with their travel documents at this point. They are unaware of their rights and are also not aware that they are victims of a crime.

The victims are isolated, no freedom, no contacts . In the end they become dependent on the traffickers.

Exploitations Faced by victims:
-prostitution: if pregnant are forced to undergo abortion
– Forced labor
– organ removal
– involuntary Domestic servitude
– used to make ponographic movies and sites. Those watching these sites encourage human trafficking.
etc

Assisting Victims Seeking to Escape Human Trafficking

First as said earlier, victims do not see themselves as victims of a crime.

They are frequently told by the traffickers that they are to blame for their circumstances and that they are criminals who will be deported or arrested if caught.

Due to their past and current experience they believe these to be a reality.

They often meet with law enforcement who are also corrupt and want to exploit them further.

They are considered as illegal immigrants. Those in positions to best identify victims may not realize the magnitude of the problem they fuel.

Victims become complete dependent on their traffickers. The traffickers use them to make billions for as long as they can .

Reintegration and Return of the Victim at Home

Sadly few will return home, and those who do may be completely incapacitated and traumatized.

Victims coming back will not be allowed to come back with their belongings or money they earned.
6
Victims have little or no assistance when they arrive back home. They are met with high expectations by their families because they are assumed to be wealthy and regarded as socioeconomically advantaged . The victims are expected to help them out of poverty.

The victims are stigmatized if they return home without money.
Communities have held a widely negative attitude towards victims and stigmatization is high if the victim return with health problems instead of wealth.

Some families may refuse to have them back. Victims recruited by relatives may be exposed to physical domestic violence 🙆‍♀.

Those exploited through prostitution are typically considered shameful. This stigma has a negative impact on rehabilitation of the victims.

Lack of social support networks, the longer the victim has lived with the traffickers , and if they had a family, it’s likely not everyone on to live with them anymore.

When they return, they are indebted and penniless. These causes them to suffer psychologically due to their social economic situation .

Many victims of trafficking have experienced violence, rape , psychological torture and many traumatic experiences , hence they return home in severe PTSD and completely incapacitated.

Countries and communities are not ready enough to receive a victim of human trafficking, hence due to the harsh reception and poor reintegration to the community, victims fall back in the hands of the traffickers and it has becomes a vicious circle ⭕, until when we completely lose a victim to death 😢.

Sp🕷der Update 4 🕷🕷

Strengthening the Web 🕸 against Human Trafficking

1. Spider Counter Trafficking Awareness Info

Editing and enriching the spider counter trafficking info is on-going. There are two sets of info

a. The brochure material developed by Ida
b. The basic facts info developed by Desmonio

Once the editing is over the Team-Tanzanian will assist ti translate the full info pack to Kiswahili.

2. Twaweza Festivals
The third edition of Banjuka’s Twaweza Festivals will take place in Babadogo’s ACREF hall on 26th August 2018. These are unique one and half hour festivals that is meant to nurture and spot talents among slums children. Banjuka is still exploring the possibility of including a 15 minutes of counter trafficking campaign in this year’s festivals. Spiders you are all called to support the event.

3. New Partner in Tanzania
TBH is on the process of courting a new partner in Tanzania to help it advance its campaign. The Young Women Initiative NGO is a seasoned servant of AGYW and FSW. They have a deep understanding of the landscape facing vulnerable women in Tanzania. YWI are also well connected to the USAID in Tanzania.
4. Medical Camp at Ang’eng’a Post Graduate Campus

A medical camp mainly targetting women is being organized by the college on 20th August. Desmonio and team are also pigging back on it to provide counter trafficking posters and info-pack. Best of luck team.

5. New Activity Planned in Nairobi

The Nairobi team is working on the first ever edition of the Kijana Jiongeze festival together with the Russian Supported Art Center targetting vulnerable youth. More to follow on this.

6. Research submissions📃📄

The conference papers

a. Poor rescue and reintegration for victims and survivors of human trafficking: Case of CEA by Kenyan Team

And

b. That child is badly ruined: an earlier action could have saved her by Tanzanian Team

Have been provisionally accepted in the GIZ Conference on Human Rights in Migration Governance on the 15-17 October in Nairobi.

The two teams have been invited to discuss the papers thro skype or telephone by GIZ. GIZ is the international development arm of the German Government. There is an indication that the stories of the two papers might be developed into skits.

7. Plans📈📊

a. Letters of Colaboration

Letters requesting for partnerships and collaborations on our events plans to be sent to institutions.

b. Introducing the Kards life skills training

The activity is gaining ground with a few institutions contacted.

c. Getting collaborators to help produce the story of Neema

Approaching various producers to collaborate in its production including Donors, private sector and other interested institutions is on going

Fellow Sp🕷ders Let us continue to strenghen the Web 🕸🕸 against Human Trafficking!

Spiders Update 5

Strengthening the Web 🕸 against Human Trafficking

Supporting
People
In
Desolate
Experiences
Reintegrate
Sustainably

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Dear Sp🕷ders so much has taken place in our web🕸 in September

1. Spider Counter Trafficking Awareness Interventions

Spiders created and collaborated in various activities to spread the counter trafficking message. Below are some of the key awareness activities

a. Twaweza festivals
The Third Edition of Twaweza took place at the World Friends Compound in Babadogo on 25th August 2018. The festival solely featured cultural performances by youth groups. A poem on human trafficking was also presented in English by a young girl from Banjuka. The festival attracted 300 youth and adolescents from Babadogo, Mathare Valley, Eastlands and the surrounding slums. A great lesson derived here was that we really need appropriate messaging and right language targetted to this group of youth. Also some print illustrated materials written in simple language to leave behind after campaigns.

b. Nairobi Kids Festival
The kids festivals also presented by Mike Kasongo and Mike Asenga provided an ample opportunity to spread awareness on human trafficking to more than 2000 families. In the future we need to explore ways to exploit this opportunity better. We may need to collaborate with the organizer Mr. Churchil and request him to speak briefly about HT and allow us to pitch a tent in some of these functions.

c. Angenga CHT Seminar for Youth

Counter trafficking seminar for youth took place at the Angenga Postgraduate college organised by Mr. Desmonio Ombotto and classmates on 20th August 2011. The seminar had 20 youth from Busia. A follow up of this activity is quite important.
d. Art Center Coffee Fest in Nairobi.

KBH collaborated in the Art Center Coffee Fest on 23rd September 2018. The KBH team made up of CEA and Sanalimu had a great performance and had a tent where they distributed brochures and explained to all tent visitors about human trafficking. Art Center has indicated the willingness to collaborate with KBH by hosting an event on counter human trafficking awareness. This is an opportunity to grab and utilize also on our part make the art center popular.

Interventions

e. TBH Youth House Portal
This initiative is a creative idea to address the challenge of human trafficking in Tanzania. The portal hopes to tackle the challenge of human trafficking through trying to increase opportunities to play in economic space among the youth. The initial themes of the Youth House Portal will include:

1. Job linkage
This theme addresses professional related technical assistance to youth to fit in job markets. Areas of interest are Cv creation, carreer guidance etc.

2. Internship and Industrial liaison
Contact as many SMEs, NGOs and industries as possible providing them with a rationale for accepting apprentices and interns and linking them to the youth looking for jobs and internships.

3. Market linkage
The focus here will be on agriculture produce including other products of interest to youth; here lessons will be wrought from ESoko among others.

4. Enterprise development
A simple collaborative competitive venture with development partners, government and corporate sector to enlist resources for youthful enterprises.

5. Product development and innovation
The main aim of this theme is to help young people think in terms of developing ideas and products that address societal challenges.

6. Talent development
A walk with the youth to help them explore and grow their talents. Through the website, youth could be engaged to develop ideas and in different activities

6. Outstanding enterprising youth of the year
This will be a competitive selection which will seek to recognize outstanding contributions to the society by mainly young people below 25 years. Key areas will be enterpreneurship and trade, service to the society and individual innovation.
3. New People Join TBH in Tanzania
New members have joined TBH in Tanzania. They include Philipo Mwambuga a budding musician, Rachel a seasoned NGO professional and HIV specialist, Liz a student of the University of Dodoma.
5. New Activity Planned in Nairobi

The first edition of Kijana Jiongeze festival, the collaborative endeavor between KBH and Nairobi Art Center plans are at an advanced stage. The activity is scheduled for 21st October 2018. The main activity that is going on at the moment is looking for collaborators and marketing.
6. The Joy skit production at HRMG Conference

Joy’s story will be produced at the Human Rights and Migration Governance (HRMG) conference in Nairobi.
GIZ are working together with KBH and TBH to make this possible. The practice is on going in Nairobi. Frey and Francis of TBH are in Nairobi for one week to help in the practice.

7. Editing and presenting of the submitted papers to HRMG

Presentations of the two submitted papers to GIZ’s HRMG conference will be done by Ida and Francis.

Editing of the final submissions for publication according to GIZ manuscript guidelines is also on going and will be completed just before tha conference.

Fellow Sp🕷ders Let us continue to strenghen the Web 🕸🕸 against Human Trafficking!

Fellow Spiders Let Us Build the Cobweb Together

Fellow Spiders 🕷🕷🕷 let us build the Cobweb🕸 together!!

In each and every spider🕷 are resources to create a cobweb. Cobwebs are concentic and broadbased trappings 🕸 that bring to the spider the small creatures it needs for its survival 🐝🐞🐜. And as the web traps more creatures the spider gets more energy to generate resources to expand it to become wider and stronger to trap even better and bigger creatures 🐛🦋🦗🦂. The spider is keen to ensure that when the cobweb is punctured it moves swiftly to repair it. So constantly the spider repairs the cobwebs and continues building it🕸🕸🕸. Hence the web becomes bigger and strong by constant additional building and repairing.

The story of the spider and the cobweb provides powerful lessons for each and everyone of us to learn from.🤔 From tiny beginnings when it is very small the spider starts to build webs that are weak that eventually become strong as it matures.

I do believe we have alot to learn from the spider: when its small, it begins from no resources👌🏿 to build a web, and it starts by building weak webs from poor resources. The webs become stronger as it gets experienced and mature.

Each and everyone in this group is a spider👨‍👩‍👦‍👦. With unique abilities to build cobwebs. Of course some with webs that are more experienced and better at encapsulating bigger elements 🕊🌻but might not capture more unique trappings of the small spiders🐞🦋.

To cut the whole story short, when we come together, we bring to our union different experiences of building a web and ability to capture unique preys🐙🦕🦖. If we could try to build one cobweb then who knows we could be able to capture insects, other small animals and even bigger animals like elephants, baboons, hippos, whales, lions and rhinos in it 🐘🦍🦏🦁🐋. He he he😁😁😁😁

What a unique and strong web would it be💪🏿💪🏿💪🏿!

Dear fellow spiders🕷🕷🕷, let us pool our resources together!!

And we shall dance gladly at our success!!

💃🏿🕺🏾💃🏿🕺🏾💃🏿🕺🏾💃🏿 and say

😅We have made it! We have made it! Thanks God Almighty, we have made it!!!🙏🏿🙏🏿

Spiders Update 6

[22:18, 11/1/2018] Frey Frey: Strengthening the Web 🕸🕸 Against Human Trafficking🕷

Sp🕷der Update 6

Strengthening the Web 🕸🕸 Against Human Trafficking🕷🕷!!

Fellow Spiders🕷🕷! So much has happened in the month of October! Thanks to our spirited motivation 🕸🕸!

KBH had a great time sharing experiences with its Tanzanian sister TBH and creating together the Joy’s Zella skit. 😁🔥The power💪🏿 of spiders 🕷🕷 teamworking 🕸🕸!!

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1. Ten Days Workshop to Produce a Skit against Human Trafficking

A ten days workshop organized by CEA bringing together TBH and KBH was held at Kayole for three purposes; to educate artists against human trafficking, to produce a 10 minutes skit to be acted at the opening cocktail for the GIZ’s Human Rights and Migration Governace (HRMG) Conference and to enable teamworking and experience sharing between TBH and KBH.

The workshop was also graced by GIZ on two occasions. On these ocassions, artists expressed a need for more knowledge on safe migration and human trafficking during these visits. GIZ promised to work with CEA to make this training possible.

The workshop managed at the long last to turn the conference paper into a 10 minutes skit showing the theme of unsafe migration and human rights abuses.

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2. CEA Performs at the HRMG Conference

A 10 minutes “Joy’s Zella” ( Zella means Opportunity ) skit by CEA was performed at the opening Cocktail of the Human Rights and Migration Governance (HRMG) Conference on the evening of 15th October 2018 at the MovenPick Hotel.

The skit features Joy a young woman with great performing art talent. Joy the leader of Sanaelimu Dancing Troupe in the slums of Nairobi gets a performing contract job abroad. Unfortunately, upon arriving abroad Joy comes to realise that she has been trafficked. The skit uses a fusion of folk, Afro Fusion and Contemporary dance; spoken word; drama; drums and music to show case human rights challenges passed through by a trafficked victim. At the climax of the skit, the victim triumphs having passed through enormous challenges some of them caused by structures meant to have assisted her. They include her friends, family and her community both abroad and locally.

The production of Joy’s Zella skit was supported by GIZ.

🕷🕷🕸🕸

3. KBH and TBH Participate in the HRMG Conference

The HRMG Conference kicked off on the 15th and ended on the 19th September 2018 with much positive impact on both TBH and KBH.

The conference addressed root causes of illicit migration in Africa, and proposed ways to promote better migration in the Eastern African Region. It also helped increase awareness among other issues on human rights of migrants, human trafficking, smuggling and safe migration. The key message of the conference was that migrants have must be treated with dignity and their rights respected. It called on states to recognize migrants’ Human rights and support their safe migration with action led outcomes. Both state and non state actors were part of the conference proceedings. The conference however had little discussions on domestic in-country human trafficking.

From the proceedings of the HRMG conference, both KBH and TBH found that they need to broaden their objectives by inculcating migration issues. The two coalitions felt that its necessary to acquiant themselves with all aspects of migration in the two countries, the focus being on women and children. Infact the conference has had a great contribution in the process of objectives formulation for TBH which has started focusing on both safe and unsafe migration in Tanzania. CEA on its part is delving on the various laws and media articles for the past ten years on migration in Kenya to better its process of enriching its objectives.

The two organizations found that the HRMG conference was quite an eye opener. The heavy practitioner perspective it espoused made all its procedings highly relevant for community actors and human rights advocates.

🕷🕷🕸🕸

4. Momentum to build Effective Advocacy and Activism Against Human Trafficking and towards Safe Migration-Strategy Lab

On Monday 22nd October TBH and KBH under the leadership of CEA had the Spiders’ Strategy Lab together at Maisha Poa Center. During the strategy lab, they looked at the Kenyan landscape for Human Trafficking and safe migration. The strategy lab benefitted from the guidance of Richard Muko who was a one time Country director of Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) and who has immense experience on migration issues in the region.

The Strategy Lab assisted both TBH, KBH and CEA be able to integrate lessons learnt from the recent completed HRMG conference. Both TBH and KBH have expressed the desire to address both community and policy aspects of Migration and human trafficking. Part of their strategy is building broader partnerships and and play an active role on oversight. Their target being appropriate government agencies, local communities, development partners and local CSOs. They expect to build a number of campaigns which they will win each year.

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5. Joy’s Zella Festivals

Joy’s Zella Festivals were held on 21st October 2018 at the Nairobi Arts Center. The festivals were sponsored by Kenya Blue Hearts, Nairobi Arts Center, Salto Jamboree among many kind people.

It attracted about 100 children and 20 parents. The children were treated to the story of Dada Neema a girl of 12 years trafficked by a rich family to the city on false promises of educational sponsorship. The story was acted using participartory theatre techniques with children at the center. The children then gave their views and suggestions on what to be done when they encounter such a case. One of their solutions was to report to 116 which is a toll free number.

This was quite a day for the kids with enough on their plate; snacks, bouncing castle; drum jam; swings; magic show by the Mighty Salto Jamboree and clown shows.

Thanks to the day Children and parents not only learnt about human trafficking but pledged to start identifying and helping suffering children in their communities. Several children exclaimed yes we see several children suffering in our neighborhoods! The parents on the other hand committed themselves to work with children officers in their localities to stamp out child trafficking.

The festivals were graced by Nairobi Child Protection Team (NCPT) officers who hailed the initiative. The KBH team at the end of the Day had a great success in entertaining all attending and educating them about the malady of child trafficking.

🕷🕷🕸🕸!!

6. Plans
There are important dates ahead.

1. One small activity on 25th November 2018 in  Western Kenya against children and human trafficking. Western Kenya is known to be a source.

2. Some collaborative activities with GIZ in November

3. Collaborate with other partners to celebrate the 2018 human rights day on December 10th.

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Fellow Sp🕷ders! Let us continue strengthening the web 🕸 against Human Trafficking!!

Bring Joy Back Home

Consolation East Africa invites you to a captivating performance on human trafficking that will be staged at the Alliance Francaise on 11th June 2016 from 7 to 8 pm.

Internally Displaced Persons Vulnerable to Human Trafficking, Study Shows

NAIROBI MARCH 22, 2016(CISA)- Internally Displaced Persons(IDPs) displaced due to the  Post Election Violence (PEV) are more vulnerable to human trafficking than colleagues displaced as a result of ethnic or natural disasters, a study has shown. “76 people, a representation of 24.6 percent out of 308 randomly selected respondents from IDPs communities experienced or witnessed cases of human trafficking. The two remaining groups, namely natural disaster and ethnic conflict categories have the fewest respondents 37.1 percent and 8.3 percent who had witnessed or experienced human trafficking,” the report read in part. Speaking when he launched the report titled Displacement, Violence and Vulnerability: Trafficking among Internally Displaced Persons in Kenya at the Hotel Royal Orchid Azure in Westlands, Nairobi, Mr Radoslaw Malinowski, the Lead researcher said that child, gender, poverty, social and cultural exclusions were some of the factors that led to vulnerability among the IDPs. The study conducted by Awareness against Human Trafficking (HAART between October 2015 – February 2016 established that IDPS witnessed human trafficking, mostly in urban areas such as Nairobi, Kisii and Naivasha whereas Marsabit, Bomet, Maralal and Wajir were less affected. “In fact some key informants as well as several Focus Group Discussions confirmed that IDPS in the above locations did not experience or know of any cases of human trafficking,” said Malinowski. “This is not surprising and confirms the anecdotal evidence about human trafficking. The question then is whether these areas are indeed immune to human trafficking,” he added. The report also noted that Kenyans still do not understand what human trafficking is with majority of respondents referring to the most common types of trafficking as presented in the national and regional media. “The media reports on trafficking are usually in reference to people going to countries like the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia in the Persian Gulf Region and this is what probably confuses most people,” he said. The report cited job agents as key influencers of human trafficking at 88.2 percent of total cases of recruitment followed by strangers at 9.2 percent and relatives at 2.6 percent.

Former Koinonia Beneficiary Wins a Youth Enterpreneurship Award

Mr. Samuel Mang’era Mwita  led other youth (former Koinonia Beneficiaries from Anita and Ndugu Mdogo homes) to scoop the Kito-Domogo Enterpreneurship Challenge Award. Samuel and his Staff Investment Group (SIG) hope to enhance reintegration success among care-leavers and street youth.

 Story by Samuel  Mang’era Mwita

My name is Samuel Mang’era Mwita. I am a former Koinonia Community beneficiary having grown up in Ndugu Mdogo home in Kerarapon from 2007 December to 2010 December. I also managed to complete my secondary school education in the year 2014 from Domus Mariae School (Popularly known as “DMS”). I am at the moment a youth peer educator at families to families, a Koinonia Project meant to ensure the success of the reintegration process. I am also assisting in the families to families’ income generating project where we raise about 500 chicken for the Ngong and surrounding areas markets.

Just like all other youth who grew up in charitable homes, I had my own share of childhood challenges. My family had little means and hence life was very difficult. I had to fend for myself for most of my childhood. The solace came when I was admitted in Ndugu Mdogo where most of my basic needs were met. I now can confidently face life and the future.

My experience of life and upbringing have molded me adequately to face all manner of challenges I encounter. “I am not afraid of difficulties, since for most of my life, I have been in their midst and steered myself out of them successfully.” One of my colleagues in speaking of these challenges says “Streets have hard lessons and calamities that can hardly be endured by ordinary men. Once you become their resident then you learn to eat what sickens the mainstream society, find a night’s comfort on flooded corridors and bridges and last but not least find security in the unsafe.” I am not sure if I can fully say that I can divorce my life experience from the above quote, however, what I have done is to invest on various ways to find inspiration and live positively. I believe that I can achieve any dream I set out to achieve despite the surmounting challenges that may present themselves before me. God helps me win. I am a winner today and will win many more battles tomorrow!

This molding was the main motivation and driving force behind my participation in the Kito-Domogo Youth Enterpreneurship challenge. When I saw the challenge I quickly organized a group of four people made of two young ladies formerly beneficiaries of Anita Home for Girls (Cynthia Nduta and Mary) and two young men former beneficiaries of Ndugu Mdogo (George Ngare and Myself) into what I christened “Staff Investment Group” (SIG). We came up with a business plan under the theme of “rearing and selling chicken and meat products in order to provide financial freedom to needy youth”. Through our project idea we hoped to provide a channel which could help youth leaving care reintegrate well into the society. In essence, our project is a social enterprise which on one hand seeks to generate as much profits as possible. We do not intend to make losses in any way. On the other, we intend to provide reintegration solutions to societal problems encountered by care-leavers and former street youth.

At first we were very doubtful about our idea. It did not appear to be innovative and strong enough to make it through the preliminary selection of the challenge. Hence we approached several friends who challenged our idea and prompted us to make improvements on it. They made us think beyond the business aspect of our project to inculcate a social impact element effectively. Their challenges made us to change the direction of our thinking from a pure business that maximizes profits only to a social enterprise that has a double impact on problem solution and profit maximization.

Despite having refined our idea, we were not confident enough. We however decided to present it for the competition. To our surprise, it was nominated amongst other eight finalists from a myriad project ideas. The eight finalists were subjected to popular voting through the www.herox.com website. We were once more surprised as days went on, our project was becoming more popular than all the others. We hence received many votes twice our second competitor and many more times against all others. The voters also expressed their great support to our idea through many inspirational and encouraging messages.

In the midnight of 30^th October 2015, we were declared the winners of the Kito-Domogo 2015 Youth Enterpreneurship Challenge. We were far from each other hence we could not shout together. However we called each other and shared our excitement. Several friends called too to congratulate us. From a brainstorming idea, now with this victory, staff investment group (SIG) is a living enterprise. We are sure it will not only start but live to become a formidable social impact oriented firm. We shall be privileged to also build the project with Kito International who are our venture capital providers.

Now that we have won, we have derived many lessons. We realize that any social enterpreneurship idea could be an innovative idea. All that matters is the impact it purports to have in the society. Secondly, winning is not easy, you must invest a lot of resources in terms of leadership, time, communication, physical energy, networking and enabling your supporters to support you. It means that people will always support you and your idea when you provide them with the right platform to do so. The other issue is that consulting whether in your project team or outside, help you to clarify your idea. We can attest to this when we received a feedback that our idea was “very simple and ordinary but clearly detailed” by a very significant person.

Lastly, to finish our story without thanking our dedicated supporters would be in vain. We also recognize the great work done by Kito-Dimogo in promoting youth enterpreneurship. God bless you all!