Africa-Press – Namibia. DREAMS Namibia has empowered 10 young women in Zambezi region with dishwashing liquid-making kits to start businesses.
Determined, Resilient, Empowered, AIDS-Free, Mentored, Safe (Dreams) is a project aimed at empowering adolescent girls and young women aged 10-24 years to reach their full potential.
The project is funded by the US President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (Pepfar) through the US Agency for International Development (Usaid) and supported by the Peace Corps.
During the handing over ceremony on Tuesday, Katima Mulilo Urban constituency councillor Kennedy Simasiku, in a speech read on his behalf by Cornilius Kamwi, described the gesture as one that would positively change the young women’s lives.
“We have many social ills that trigger many adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) to engage in risky behaviour that contributes to the rise in HIV cases in Katima Mulilo district. Many AGYW engage in transactional sex due to poverty but if we empower them, we also decrease cases of unwanted pregnancy, risky sex, HIV and gender-based violence. Today, we are witnessing a very important event where 10 young women have been made self-reliant through dishwashing liquid-making skills and kits. The Dreams project is doing a tremendous job in equipping young women who are out of school with different vocational skills,” he said.
Dreams has so far trained 120 young women in the region in different fields – 20 in hospitality and tourism, poultry (20), horticulture (25) and basket weaving (15).
“Additionally, 40 young women are in training at the Zambezi Vocational Training Centre doing plumbing and pipe-fitting, and joinery and cabinet making. They started mid-May and will complete in August 2022,” he said.
Beaming with joy, the young women expressed gratitude to the Dreams project, describing the three-month training they received as a blessing.
“I failed my Grade 12 in 2020 because I fell pregnant. I thought all hope was lost until I was told about the Dreams project and I enrolled. I’m forever grateful and I’ll push to be successful through hard work.,” said Trendy Simataa, one of the beneficiaries.
Another beneficiary, Memory Liswaniso encouraged her fellow trainees to take what they have learned seriously and build their businesses to become a success.
“Use the knowledge we have gained to keep yourselves afloat and grow to be employers or share your knowledge with others to empower the community,” she said.
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