Please take a minute out of your busy schedule to vote for the Kenyan finalist for the World Challenge Project: “Hawkers Market Girls Centre "

 The World Challenge is a global competition aimed at finding projects or small businesses from around the world that have shown enterprise and innovation at a grass roots level.  Funded by the BBC World News and Newsweek Magazine.

 Hawkers Market Girls Centre is a community based project with Kenya Girl Guides as a partner. Girls scavenging in the Hawkers markets and other markets of Kenya had not been noticed and targeted for any intervention. Nobody had previously understood who the girls were, or what they were facing. We took the initiative to find what their needs were and organized to educate and train them without taking them away from their environment. Food and money were their basic requirements and this together with the need to keep the market clean became our driving force.

HMGC provides the girls with security and refuge from abuse. The girls who come to the market are adolescents who come from families where both parents are unemployed or from single parents or orphans. Due to the desperate situations, some parents force their young girls into prostitution as away of raising income for the family. At HMGC, they learn environmental education, vocational skills, health education, and entrepreneurship. By using the skill acquired, the girl becomes empowered economically by being in a position to be able to earn a living through employment or starting own businesses.

The project and the girls need your support on this initiative.

Thank you in advance for your gracious support.