About TEMAK
AfrikaPamoja is a project of the Teenage Mothers and Girls Association of Kenya an organization working for the rescue, rehabilitation and economic empowerment of girls and young women. Our programmes focus on helping solve the problems of HIV/AIDS infected children, their parents (often teenage girls who are single), orphans, the poor and the destitute of the community. TEMAK has its centre in Tom Mboya Estate, Kisumu where multiple programmes have been initiated over the past dozen years to support the destitute.
TEMAK has carefully designed a center where training, rehabilitation, and economic empowerment for adolescent girls is conducted in order to improve the opportunities of teenage mothers. Income generating activities are initiated for the girls in order to uplift their living standards.
The project produces a wide range of recycled products including paper necklaces and recycled wire jewelry.
Impact
Since starting to produce handicrafts in 2001 the project has enabled TEMAK to move away from a primarily donation based funding model to a trade based funding model. The project includes a primary school, vocational training for around 120 girls, a health care clinic and scholarships that have enabled girls to progress from destitution to university education. A new center has been built on land owned by TEMAK. A young girl working on handicrafts can expect to earn at least 300 Kenyan shillings a day (around $4 USD) and often up to 1000 shillings per day assuming the orders are available. The Fair Wage Guide (www.fairwageguide.com)states that a none poverty wage in Kenya is 134 shillings per day, thus the girls earn at least 124% more than this indicator.
