Child Protection Kenya Project #29255

Provide Shelter for Victims of Human Trafficking

by Awareness Against Human Trafficking - HAART Kenya

Provide Shelter for Victims of Human Trafficking

Project Report | Jan 10, 2020
Progress report for HAART Kenya shelter

By Halima Musa | Shelter Manager

Dear donors,

Happy New Year!

It has been 3 months since we last touched base and here we are again to keep you in the loop of what we have been up to during this reporting period. First off, allow us in the most sincere way possible say thank you for your generous contributions that you gave out of your big hearts toward the course of HAART Kenya's focus- rescue, rehabilitation and reintegration of victims of human trafficking.

From our last report, we had mentioned that there were significant changes in the pipeline about to happen at our shelter which was to be communicated. The major change that occurred during this phase of reporting is the winding down of the shelter due to serious incidences we had encountered with the landlady coupled with a myriad of little instances of disrespect and disregard of our safety and security.

The protection team at HAART Kenya reported each time there was an incident and it was dealt with as best as we could considering the fact that controlling the landlady was nearly impossible. We considered finding a house and moving out since the lease agreement was expiring by the close of the month of October. However, finding a suitable house with the capacity that we wanted was not easy in the timeline that we had. After a careful deliberation by the management considering all the challenges that we were facing, we looked at the cases we had and decided that shutting down the shelter would be the best solution

Most of the cases we had by then were ready for reintegration and their reintegrations could be done before the end of October. We decided we would not take in new cases but instead continue working actively on the available cases to ensure the remaining children are reintegrated within the timeline that we had. Under our care, we also had 5 children whose home tracings and reintegrations had proven futile due to dynamics within their families that left us needing more time to look for other responsible relatives who could take care of them. As such we had to refer them to our partner organizations for temporary shelter before our shelter reopens.

Staff were given termination of contract notices due to the redundancy of their positions and we started looking for storage place for the items at the shelter. We managed to get a place where we moved shelter items. Currently, we are still looking for a safe location to reestablish the shelter.

HIGHLIGHTS

5 survivors were repatriated to Tanzania- 2 being physically disabled
5 victims were successfully reintegrated
5 Victims who were referred to other foster care home continued receiving support services from HAART. 1 girl out of the 5 was reintergrated.
14 survivors including the reintegrated ones received educational support.
2 girls completed their primary school education and are set to be enrolled in secondary school.
2 girls completed their secondary school education and are being prepared to join tertiary institutions.
2 victims received medical support
1 victim received psycho-social support.
We are actively looking for another safe location to reestablish the shelter.

Our goals for the coming months are to:

Find a secure location to reestablish the shelter
Review of shelter systems and procedures.

We look forward to your continued support.

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Oct 11, 2019
Progress report for HAART Kenya shelter

By Halima Musa | Shelter manager

Dear donors,

Greetings!

It is with utmost gratitude that we once again come back to you our esteemed donors to convey our appreciation for your unswerving support that has seen us assist 26 child victims of human trafficking in the past 3 months. We would like to assure you that your generous donations were channeled towards a good course, a charity course and above all, a girl child empowerment operation. Human trafficking remains a global challenge but through concerted effort, we hope one day we shall have a world free of human trafficking.

Rehabilitation services provided at the shelter included; provision of basic needs, psychosocial support, medical aid, legal aid, educational support, home tracing, reintegration/ repatriation, economic empowerment and follow up. These remained our scope of work during this period.

Among the beneficiaries who were offered shelter included 3 baby boys under 5 years of age whose mothers are direct beneficiaries although our intention of establishing the shelter was to primarily offer care and protection services to girl child victims of human trafficking between the ages of 6 to 18.

We managed to build a house within a school compound for the girls with babies in school. HAART has been in partnership with one educational institution which has been taking in most of our beneficiaries. The school accepted to give us a space to construct a house that would host victims with babies now and in future. The house construction was successfully completed and 3 girls are now being hosted with their children in it. This also means providing extra shopping for the girls with babies because the babies diet is different from what is offered in school.

From the month of July, shelter activities circulated around receiving the school-going girls back from school for holiday by facilitating their transport and subsequently preparing them for going back to school early September. The girls were provided with school fees and school levies, uniforms, learning materials, shopping and transport back to school. During the August holiday, shelter outsourced two tutors- one for primary school and another for secondary school to offer holiday coaching to school-going beneficiaries in a bid to improve their academic performance.

This period was also marked by major changes at the shelter which will be communicates in due course. We are working towards transferring most responsibilities to the families of victims to ensure sustainability in the long run.

HIGHLIGHTS

26 survivors were offered shelter and had access to basic needs
18 girls participated in skills training which entailed computer, handcrafts and tailoring lessons.
3 rescues were done during this period and the girls admitted to the shelter. 1 of the rescued girls is expectant therefore receiving maternal care.
1 repatriation and 5 reintegration were done.
22 girls received psycho-social support..
23 children were provided with medical support. 2 of them are physically disabled and have been on weekly physiotherapy sessions.
12 girls received educational support. 3 of the girls are with their babies in school.
Holiday tuition was conducted for the school-going beneficiaries in order to help boost their academic grades
2 girls were enrolled in school with their children both1 year old. They live in a house within the school constructed by HAART. The babies have a nanny who takes care of them as the two girls attend classes.

Our goals for the coming months are to:

Review shelter systems and procedures.
Move shelter to a secure location because we are experiencing security issues with the current location.
Home tracing
Reintegration/ repatriation

We look forward to your continued support.

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Jul 15, 2019
Progress report for HAART Kenya Shelter

By Halima Musa | Shelter Manager

Dear donors,

A big thank you to you all for your open handedness that has been greatly supporting our efforts to fight child trafficking. Your generous donations have seen us assist 29 child victims of human trafficcking within this 3 months reporting period. Our main aim of establishing the shelter was to exclusively offer care and protection services to girl child victims of human trafficking between the ages of 6 to 18, but we found ourselves in certain unavoidable circumstances where we had to extend our services to 3 babies under 5 years; all of whom are boys. It is worth noting that human trafficking remains a huge problem globally.

Rehabilitation services provided for the girls at the shelter include; basic needs, psychosocial support, medical aid, legal aid, educational support, home tracing, reintegration, economic empowerment and follow up. Those were our areas of focus during this reporting period.

April holiday saw the school going beneficiaries reporting back to the shelter from school which consequently raised the number of shelter residents. This led to adjusting of the shelter daily activity schedule to suit their holiday needs. The girls were prepared to go back to school towards the end of April. All of them were facilitated with shopping, transport, school fees and school levies.

HIGHLIGHTS

HAART Kenya joined other stakeholders in the field of child protection in planning and celebrations of The Day of the African Child. Our shelter was awarded certificate of recognition for the invaluable role it plays in combating child trafficking and reintergration of victims.
2 victims were enrolled in school both 6 years old
2 reintergrations and 1 repartriation were conducted.
6 victims were rescued and admitted to the shelter
15 beneficiaries received educational support
12 court cases are ongoing.The legal officer at HAART attennded the court hearings and court mentions.
29 victims were offered shelter.
Skills training activities in handcrafts, computer and garment making were conducted by outsourced tutors. The girls made beautiful crafts and dresses.
April holiday was full of activities from picking the girls from the various educational institutions, preparing them to go back to school by facilitating their shopping, transport, school fees and school levies.
Easter celebrations. Shelter staff members and victims together enjoyed special meals. The girls were bought for gifts.
2 tutors- one for the the victims in Primary school and 1 for the victims in secondary school were outsourced during April holiday to offer academic guidance to the school-going victims. This was in an effort to boost their academic grades. Trauma has cognitive and academic impacts which from our assessment we realized some beneficiaries' performance were below average which called for urgent support.
We managed to procure reusable sanitary towels from our partner organization. Each reintergrated victim will be offered a package that contains a dozen of panties and 6 reusable sanitary pads with a manual to extend our care even after reintergration. 3 girls have so far benefited. A training on how to use the pads was conducted.
All the 29 beneficiaries benefited from medical support. There was mumps outbreak at the shelter which forced all the staff members and beneficiaries to receive Measle Mumps and Rubella vaccine. 2 physiscally disabled victims have been on ongoing physiotherpay services. This was expensive because the vaccine was not available in the public hospitals we visited and therefore we had to get it from a private facility.
Psycho-social support was offered on a needs basis.
Shelter staff members attended one day security training together with the rest of the HAART team.
Shelter collaborated with HAART's Awareness department during tone of their events to showcase and sell products made by the survivors at the shelter. A policy was drafted to guide the process. We managed to sell products worth 91 dollars and distributed among the girls who made the products. This boosted their morale in the activity as they saw its financial benefits.

Our goals for the coming months are to:

Identification
Rescue
Rehabilitation
Home tracing
Reintegration/ repartriation
Economic empowerment

We look forward to your continued support.

Attachments:

CERTIFICATE_OF_RECOGNITION.pdf (PDF)

1 Attachment

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