New lease of life for teen mothers in Mathare slums
Mercy Kamau, the executive director oft Mathare Children's Fund Panairobi during an interview at their premises in Mathare, Nairobi, on November 18, 2023.
What you need to know:
- Mathare Children’s Fund Panairobi is a vocational training centre at the heart of Mathare settlement in Nairobi.
- It trains teenage mothers in cosmetology and garment making.
Naomi Waithera walked into Mathare Children’s Fund Panairobi to seek enrolment in December 2021.
Tied to her back was her daughter, about to turn a year old. Naomi, from Mathare, was interested in learning hairdressing.
Naomi Waithera at Mathare Children’s Fund Panairobi on November 18, 2023.
She badly needed a job to provide for her child and with hairdressing skills, she was sure she would earn something.
But she was concerned about where she would leave her child.
“I was very happy to learn that I’d bring along my child and we would both be fed without paying a single shilling,” she says.
Mathare Children’s Fund Panairobi is a vocational training centre at the heart of Mathare, an informal settlement in Nairobi.
It offers teenage mothers a second chance in life by taking them through six-month training in cosmetology and garment making.
A trainee at the Mathare Children's Fund Panairob in Nairobi on November 18, 2023.
Mathare Children’s Fund Panairobi executive director Mercy Kamau says the empowerment programme enables teen mothers to not only reclaim their dreams but also improve their mental health.
“Some of the teen mothers come here when they are in a bad state of mind and we have to counsel them,” she says.
Mathare Children’s Fund Panairobi executive director Mercy Kamau during an interview at the facility on November 2018, 2023.
“Some do not even want to breastfeed their children because they hate them. They see them as a burden.”
But at this centre, the teenage mothers get to have a session with a nutritionist from Mathare North Level 4 Hospital who teaches them to love themselves and their children.
By doing so, they focus on improving themselves through education and feeding well, says Margaret Mukunjura, the nutritionist.
“Often, there is that detachment a teenage mother has from their child because they remind them of the pain they went through due to the pregnancy,” she says.
Nutritionist Margaret Mukunjura during an interview at Mathare Children's Fund Panairobi on November 18, 2023.
“It takes time to help them heal and care for themselves and the children. If they are disturbed they can’t produce enough milk.
"The worst cases are when the mothers neglect their children. They just don’t want to feed them.”
Margaret says none of the teen mothers at the centre has failed to change and love her child.
“I feel happy when I see a teen mother who ignored her child crying because of hunger, happily breastfeeding the baby. It means a child feels loved.”
Naomi did love her child but she says the caring she received from the nutritionist made her feel closer to her daughter.
“Now, I can tell you for sure I can do anything for my daughter.”
She joined the centre in January 2022 and graduated six months later, having gone through the cosmetology course.
Whenever Naomi remembers her time at the centre, she wishes she would turn back the hands of time.
“We were given pads, diapers and soap. I always wished we were boarders so that we would have all the time to share and laugh,” she says.
“You would report in the morning so hungry and feeling stressed, but by the time you return home, you’re relaxed and at peace. I miss that a lot.”
Income
Her mother does casual work for a living. Naomi says she has yet to get a job as her earlier employer exploited her. For now, she, too, does casual work to support her child.
She says she was employed at a local salon and her employer would pay her as she wished: sometimes Sh50, and other days Sh100 for a whole day job.
Mercy, the executive director, says they also make reusable pads and recycle bar soaps, which they distribute to teenage mothers. It also has a crèche with caregivers for their babies. For all these services, they pay nothing.
Naomi is one of more than 600 teen mothers who have benefitted from the centre’s support.
She looks forward to starting her own salon business.
She says she would use the entrepreneurial skills she learnt from the centre to thrive.
