This has had a major impact on the girls, their families, and the communities, but it was often hard for program staff not to be able to help more poor girls (in an already poor community) who had dreams but no means to achieve them.
We are grateful that in the past three years we’ve been able to help some of these young women with vocational training because of additional giving to the program, the Canadian gifts of which were matched by the Canadian government. This has given the program the opportunity to establish more adolescent health groups and to enroll some of the participants in courses on tailoring, hairdressing, catering, and first aid. The first-aid course was organized in the fall of 2014 in cooperation with the local Red Cross. We are pleased to see that many of the participants in that course are now working with the Red Cross when first-aid teams are needed at mass events in the country and that some participants are doing internships with local clinics to become health workers.
Sarata Camara is one of them.
This is her story:
My name is Sarata Camara.
I am 23 years old and live in Dakar, the capital of Senegal. My father is too old to work, and my mother sells vegetables in our neighborhood. I have three brothers and two sisters. I left school in 10th grade because our family’s situation made it impossible for me to continue my studies. In 2011 I started participating in the Adolescent Health Program when some other girls from my neighborhood who were part of an adolescent health group organized an event. They asked me to join them for a discussion about sexual violence. I found their group interesting and continued participating in their events. For the past few years I’ve been an active member of our Youth Action Group [Advocacy Groups of former participants of Adolescent Health Groups and their friends]. In our Youth Action Group I learned so much about adolescent health: how to avoid infection with HIV/AIDS and other STIs, the consequences of early pregnancy, and the consequences of sexual violence.
"I thank all those who work with the Adolescent Health Program."
In this group I learned to communicate with people and to lead debates, but I especially enjoyed the enthusiasm and commitment of the youth. I was lucky enough to be selected for a first-aid course which the Adolescent Health Program organized with the Red Cross. After the course I started participating in the meetings of our local Red Cross chapter. As first responders, we assisted at several mass ceremonies. At the moment I am doing an internship as a nurse’s aide in a health clinic in a neighborhood nearby. I learned new things, and now I am able to give injections, change dressings, take blood pressure, and insert a drip-IV. I assist the nurse and her assistant health worker in their work during consultations and deliveries. I have never regretted my participation in the Adolescent Health Program, because today I am a role model for the girls in my neighborhood. Parents trust me when I am with their daughters during the discussions we organize, and I am encouraged by my mother, who joined the program’s neighborhood council, and by my sister, who was a peer educator.
I was unable to finish my studies so that I could enter a training program to become a health worker, something I have always wanted to do, but now I’m planning to continue my internship so I can become a good nurse’s aide and get responsibility for my own health hut [annex of a health clinic] in my neighborhood. I thank all those who work with the Adolescent Health Program. They have taught me and have given me the opportunity to learn a trade.
Praise God for Sarata's changed story! Visit our Senegal webpage to learn more about how World Renew is working to change the story of young adults like Sarata.
