WUNRN
LIBERIA - HOSTEL FOR STREET GIRLS -
SERVICES & HOPE - YWCA
By
Stephen D. Kollie, 21 July 2013
Monrovia — President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has rededicated a well-furnished girl's hostel built by the Young Women's Christian Association of Liberia (YWCA) in Monrovia.
The hostel project which costs about two hundred thousand United States Dollars, (200, 000.00) dollars seeks to target one hundred (100) disadvantaged young women and girls from the various streets in Monrovia that will be rehabilitated at the newly renovated girls hustle.
Dedicating the hostel on Friday July 20, 2013, the Liberian leader said government will remain in partnership with local and international NGOs to help in catering to girls need.
Said Sirleaf: "We want to ask everybody to join this initiative. You may not have money but if you can just reach out to some young girls in your neighborhood and talk to them about what she can do; give her certain example to follow. There are thousands of them out there. We haven't yet catered to all of them but this is such a good drive," said president Sirleaf.
National Secretary General of YWCA Liberia Mrs. Roseline K. Toweh giving an overview of the project, said the dedicatory ceremony marked a historic era in the life of her organization established in 1941 by the late Doris Banks Henries and six other women that had the vision to improve lives of disadvantage girls and women in Liberia.
She said the founders of the YWCA were passionate about giving Liberian women and girls a perfect accommodation center at the girls hostel and did so from 1961 up until 1990 when the civil unrest disturbed all of the YWCA programs in the country.
According to Mrs. Toweh, the project will focus on basic services for all categories of vulnerable street girls (about fifty), provide formal and non formal education and recreation activities. She named other priorities as providing psychosocial counseling and mentoring twice a week and invitations to women leaders as role models to share their story of change and testimonies with the girls.
She revealed that on May 18, 2012, 103 young women and girls (103) between the ages of 11-45 were picked up in the streets and sheltered at the YWCA compound in Oldest Congo town. She said some of the girls involved were commercial sex workers and suspected drug addicts.
The YWCA Secretary General has meanwhile called on all Liberians to join her organization in a bid to rescue dozens of venerable young women and girls across Liberia.
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YWCA of Liberia - Inauguration of Street Girls Hostel
The long period of civil war and crisis has left Liberia with
grave problems of violence, exploitation and an increase in trafficking of
women. The YWCA of Liberia is known for its work on the issue of violence
against women and awareness around sexual and reproductive health rights. They
have been a long-time service provider of shelters for women in vulnerable
situations.
The Association recently took up the task of
renovating one of their hostels, a project named 'Save Our Future'. The
inauguration took place on 20 July 2013 at the National Headquarters in
Monrovia. President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf attended the event, as did other
representative from the government, the UA Ambassador, the Ambassador of Sierra
Leone and other civil society organisations. Roseline Toweh, the National
General Secretary of the YWCA of Liberia, presented the overview of the Girls
Hostel, sharing that the government of Liberia, the Ministry of Gender and
Development and the YWCA of Finland donated money for the renovations.
The renovation of the hostel was designed to
rehabilitate and improve conditions of the young women, who due to their
vulnerability are engaged in the sex trade and lack support. By providing the
basic necessity of accommodation and giving the possibility of vocational
training, the YWCA hopes to encourage these women to chose an alternative
livelihood and be independent. The key objectives of the Save the Future
Project are to:
The "Save Our Future" project can
now offer a safe space for 100 young women to access a better life and better
facilities. The YWCA of Liberia hopes to expand this project in the remaining
counties in the country with support from the Government, the UN Agencies and
various Missions accredited to Liberia.
During the inauguration ceremony of the renovated YWCA Girls
Hostel, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, President of Liberia, talked about the
importance of working with organisations such as the YWCA in order to rehabilitate
the existing structures of these organisations as a way of helping the
government to improve the lives of women and girls. "We want to ask
everybody to join this initiative. You may not have money but if you can just
reach out to some young girls in your neighborhood and talk to them about what
they can do; give her certain example to follow. There are thousands of them
out there. We haven't yet catered to all of them but this is such a good drive,
said President Sirleaf."
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UN Site - Children Working and/or Living on the Street Including
2012 Report:
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Link to 2011 Street Children Report: Still on the Street - Still
Short of Rights
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