Children Project
Bliss offers the hope of an education by operating a Nursery School for vulnerable children aged 3 – 7, who are:
- Orphans
- From very poor families
- Infected or affected by HIV
The Bliss Nursery School is unique because:
- It caters for vulnerable children,
- It is provided free of charge
- Uniforms are provided
- Meals are provided
The Kenyan Education System isn’t free and without Bliss, these children would never make it to Primary School and would be left behind without an education. And having no education in Kenya almost guarantees being stuck in poverty for life.
Through education, the lives of Bliss children are transformed from hopeless to having the hope and promise of a future.
Meet the children from the Bliss Women and Children Project, click here.
Women project
Bliss Women - equipping and empowering women
Guiding principles:
- At BWCP we believe in supporting women with a hand up, not a hand out. We believe that hand outs do not improve lives in the long run; they only serve to reinforce the ‘poor mentality’. Instead our initiatives aim to empower women to help themselves.
- Our experience tells us that some people get so entrenched in the ‘poor mentality’ that they are not able to help themselves beyond meeting their own immediate needs. We aim to break this cycle by empowering women to use what they have before entrusting them with more. We believe that if someone is faithful with a little, they can be trusted to be faithful with more.
Improving livelihoods:
Table banking: Women begin by participating in a table banking programme where they pool their savings with other women and take turns using the money to establish and grow businesses. Through this system they keep each other accountable for using the money wisely and support each other as they learn together.
Training and Mentoring: Bliss arranges training in business practices and financial issues to equip women to achieve their goal of an income that they can sustain themselves and their families on.
Handicraft project: Bliss provides training and a location where women can put their skills into practice. Making handicrafts such as jewelery and baskets is one business option for Bliss women, and they are also supported to find markets to sell their goods.
Micro-finance loans and grants: We are constantly on the lookout for members who are of good character, hard working and likely to succeed with financial support. Women selected to receive loans or grants from Bliss’s micro-finance fund have proven themselves through Bliss’s table banking initiative. They must show commitment to their chosen venture, honesty in their dealings with their table banking group, and at least some small success with the little they started with.
Improving well-being
Sewing Project: The Sewing project acts as a Teaching source of income for the project and women members .We received Zig Zag and sewing machines from Dede werkplaat. Netherlands adding to the ones Nina Reid bought while she volunteered with us June 2010
HIV/AIDS Project: This project works with those who are infected or affected by HIV or AIDS to mitigate the effects it has on individuals, families and the local communities. The programme achieves this by offering counseling, testing and home-based care. Bliss employs one trained HIV counsellor to work with individual Bliss women to equip them to manage their illness.
Counseling and Health Education Project: Women and children who have abused drugs or been displaced receive counseling, rehabilitation and advice. This is provided by visiting consultants through lectures on health, nutrition and life-style, as well as individual advice.
Meet the women from the Bliss Women and Children Project, click here.