REHABILITATION AND REINTEGRATION

THINK met Samaritan’s Purse International Relief and got funding to open a Rehabilitation Home for girls and young women associated with the fighting forces in October, 2003.The THINK Rehabilitation Home now caters to war affected adolescent girls and young women with various social problems such as victims of trafficking, survivors of gender based violence, commercial sex workers and girls separated from their families because of war. The home provides shelter, protection, medical care, psychosocial support and counseling, academic classes using the Accelerated Learning Program (ALP) curriculum, vocational skills training (Pastry making, food preservation and catering, Tailoring, and Cosmetology), life skills training including Reproductive Health, awareness about HIV/AIDS, prevention and response to GBV, peace building, parenting and child care for under-five children of 10 of the girls. The home accommodates 25 girls and 10 of their under-five children. Each cycle of girls stay in the home for nine months. While the girls are occupied with the program, we do family tracing so that upon graduation, the girls, especially those below 18 years can be reunified with their parents. At times there is a need to do reconciliation and conflict resolution between the girls and their families and /or communities. The girls are taken on two field trips during their nine months cycle. They participate in sports and community service. The holistic approach provides an enabling environment where girls can choose what will best fit their needs and be regular in attendance because they live there and are not troubled with transportation costs.

In order to effectively help these young women and girls who are victims and survivors of violence, tool kits and small start up cash are given to them upon graduation. Many of them are used to a community banking system called “susu”. We however encourage them to use the formal banking system as beginning balances are very low and their money will be safe.