TG 12 - HOLISTIC ACCOMPANIMENT FOR GIRLS

Girls in rural areas face problems of violence and one of the consequences, especially in the case of sexual violence, is early pregnancy. A phenomenon unfortunately growing: every year in Togo there are three thousand pregnancies of school age. This situation is due to poverty, lack of adequate sex education and the weight of tradition that persists in believing that a girl’s purpose is the service of a husband in the house. As a result, there is a high rate of single mothers, most of whom drop out of school and have no vocational training.

In this situation, these mothers suffer social and economic exclusion which plunges them into difficult situations such as prostitution, endangering their lives and that of their children. So the vicious circle of early pregnancies continues. We have seen this situation in some Tabligbo girls. The situation of these young people concerns us as Comboni Missionary Sisters, for this reason we want to organize an in-depth formation with the aim of offering them a framework for sharing their experiences, listening and learning activities generating income.

The project will take place during the long school holidays and will include: workshops on topics of personal development (such as self-control, anger management, children’s needs, healthy eating, alternatives to violent methods in education, etc.); practical workshops (hairdresser, sewing, piano, guitar, shoemaker, beads, batik, etc.); educational and professional orientation; granting aid for learning or entrepreneurship; and finally creation of circles of the Young Leaders of San Daniele Comboni.

The aim is to enable young girls, according to the needs and desires of each, to create their own means of subsistence. This project was developed to provide support for the socio-professional development of young people in general and girls in particular, living in Tabligbo and the surrounding villages.