Freely In Hope

Programs: In 2017, freely in hope equipped 13 survivors of sexual violence through holistic education, leadership development, and storytelling platforms throughout kenya, zambia, and south africa. Through their leadership, freely in hope designed and implemented 35 events to educate communities on sexual violence prevention, trauma healing, and women's rights. During these events with child survivors, women in prostitution, high school students in slums, and international leaders, we directly impacted over 2,000 through our workshops, trainings, and events. In kenya, we launched a monthly program that serves women in prostitution. Its mission is to provide a safe space for women in prostitution to be equipped, educated, and strengthened as role models that restore hope to their work places. In zambia, we launched a weekly program for young women in mutendere, a small slum on the outskirts of lusaka. Its mission is to establish a learning environment to equip young women to influence the world with positive light. We also launched a literacy program for children to prevent sexual violence in the slums. This weekly reading program provides children an opportunity to imagine a future beyond what they see in the slums. In addition, we developed trauma-informed training curriculum that was designed by our community of survivors. The curriculum includes art therapy practices that allow survivors to share their story with dignity and a training for coed high schools on building mutual respect to prevent sexual violence. The curriculum will be launched in high schools within kibera, east africa's largest slum, and aims to reach over 4,000 students in 2018.