Ms Patricia Atieno Onyango gazes into the open sky. She is engulfed into what seems to be deep thought.
Perhaps she is wondering why after going through primary, secondary and college education she was unable to get a job as a trained public health officer.
The 28-year-old Siaya County born woman studied Public Health at the Kenya Medical Training College (KMTC) in Kisumu, concluding her studies in 2013. Since then, a job has not been forthcoming.
Ms Onyango volunteered at the Bondo District Hospital. She has applied for various jobs, been called for interviews but an opportunity is yet to fall her way.
“I have been to various job interviews in various health facilities but an opportunity is yet to fall on my wayside,” she says.
But all is not all gloom. Last year, she joined Kisumu Medical and Education Trust (KMET) Organization for a trade skills course. She did a course in food, beverage and pastry for five months. It is all that puts a smile on her face.
“Initially, the course was to take two-three months but KMET management decided that it was not enough. That is how I got to study for a five months certificate course free of charge,” she recalls. After the training, she got an attachment opportunity at the Victoria Comfort Inn.
Today, she is one of the staff at the Ultimate Cakes in Kondele where she bakes various types of cake for various clients.
“Soon, I am starting my own bakery to sell food and cakes, I always had a passion for food and beverage making. My mum has a small food kiosk and I have been helping her all along, but my mum wanted me to study and get a job in an office. That is why I studied public health. Now that I am back to what I wanted to do in life, I think I am comfortable,” stated Ms Onyango.
Her new trade now sees her make between Sh3000 to Sh6000 in a good week depending on the orders.
“So far so good. Things are working out quite well. Even if I get employed as a public health officer, I will continue doing what I do,” she said.
The food, beverage and pastry course is one of the pieces of training offered at KMET’s Vocational Training Centre in Kisumu’s Tom Mboya Estate, aimed at empowering girls from slum areas such as Manyatta, Obunga and Nyalenda with life skills for economic empowerment.
The Centre was started in 2006 as Sisterhood for Change (SFH) Program before it was transformed into a Vocational Centre with dressmaking and salon and beauty therapy as some of the courses.
According to Susan Ogoma, a tutor in charge of the dressmaking department, the program was started to assist girls who had not gone to school at all or dropped out as a result of poverty and early pregnancies.
“As KMET, we were carrying out outreaches in the community which made us identify the problems our young girls were going through. I remember we started with over 60 girls. We were able to assist them and most of them got jobs or managed to start their own businesses,” said the tutor.
Some of the students at the KMET training centre in Kisumu [Source/Oliver Peter]
Mrs Ogoma said that during inception, the key challenge they faced was the fact that most girls were coming from various backgrounds and holding them in class was not an easy venture.
“Others were call girls (sex workers). Others had never been in a classroom all their lives. We started by counselling and teaching them how to read and write. Others lacked basic things such as sanitary pads. We had to provide them in order for them to stay in class,” she revealed.
The girls in the dressmaking department are also involved in making sanitary pads and a device called Uterine Balloon Tamponade (UBT) which stops excessive bleeding after a woman gives birth. The girls are usually paid a small amount of money as a token of appreciation.
The tutor said since 2006, over 600 girls have gone through her hands and she is glad that most of them are either employed or they started their own business.
In 2017, the Centre started admitting boys in order for them to also acquire skills. One can learn more when he visits KMET offices in Tom Mboya, Kisumu County.
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