Toto Afrika Projects
Adolescent Sexual Reproductive Health {ASRH}
This Project has been instrumental in teaching the young girls’ and boys’ values and societal expectations to shape their character as well as the core values of Toto Afrika. Most of the girls who have joined the Toto Afrika family, missed school due to lack of sanitary towels during menstruation, while others were exploited by Boda Boda riders or men within the community to trade sexual favors in exchange for sanitary towels. With this project, their once lost self-esteem has been built back and grown through this project. We continue to offer training on sexual reproductive health and menstrual hygiene as well as the support of sanitary towels/pads and pants to all the girls and currently, they are able to attend school without interruptions as well as go about their daily activities normally without being taken advantage of.
Through ongoing sister- sister mentorship, the older girls are able to share experience and train the younger ones on how to take care of themselves, open up on issues and protect themselves from any form of exploitation. The boys also have a big brother group where the older once mentor the younger ones.
This project is strongly embedded in our 1st and 2nd core values; compassion and growth as it goes a long way towards increasing a learner’s confidence, improving their attendance in schools, and increasing the learner’s retention rate.
TACKLE IT
This is a project that uses Sports i.e. Rugby to empower young girls and boys, a holistic approach that considers the psychosocial, physical, and emotional needs of the girls is taken into consideration. Through Rugby, the girls are taught how to tackle and navigate through t challenges of life, The spot brings forth resilience, cultivates teamwork, and forces one to calculate steps and make decisions, all this are skills and techniques needed in real life and hence they are able to transfer the same to everyday life. Currently, Toto Afrika has 8 teams classified by age group. The youngest being 6 and the oldest being 17 years of age. The girls and boys have embraced this project and have been more than excited to make it to the team, as they learn more about Teamwork.
EDUCATION
Most of the children in Toto Afrika come from vulnerable homes that can hardly afford two square meals a day hence needless to say education is considered a want and not a basic necessity, despite primary education made free in Kenya, there are other costs incurred in the process of taking a child to school. These include but are not limited to stationary, lunch, exam fees, boarding necessities in the case of boarding school, toiletries amongst others. All this happens to be a financial burden to the guardian/ parent who can hardly provide for the family.
Toto Afrika has continued to identify and prioritize the children from the neediest households and support them through scholarships and the other school-related needs. Part of the support includes unlimited access to the inhouse library services for continued learning, group discussions, and study time.
PSYCHO-SOCIAL SUPPORT {PSS}
The children, young adults, and parents of Toto Afrika have been through different traumatic experiences and therefore need Psycho-social Support. Due to this, we have recently introduced, Tell me your story, where the beneficiaries speak out on various issues are advised. The program is of great value as it seeks to promote behavior change as well as encourage self-acceptance and mental health.
Issues are addressed in order to enhance self-esteem and confidence that create positive lifelong change and good academic performance for the school-going children as well as providing an environment where talent, skills are identified and explored. The program focuses on behavioral issues in relation to HIV/ AIDS prevention, stigma, commercial sex, rape, and other health issues using activities such as sports, dance, music, life skills, and leadership classes.
Toto Africa | Kenya 2020