Programs
Freedom Write Inc.'s projects are sustainable, empowerment-based programs that give young people and their communities knowledge, skills & support to reach their full potential.
HASE: Health & Sexual Education
Creating safe spaces to protect health & wellbeing
HASE Vision: to increase general and sexual health awareness and promote sharing this knowledge in village communities.
FWI runs HASE programs in primary and secondary schools, including weekly sessions and one- off workshops on a range of topics. Topics are based on identified gaps in knowledge, trends in communities (such as early pregnancy or substance use) and student requests.
We run targeted groups for young women around puberty, sexual health and teach and equip students to make reusable sanitary pads and to turn this skill into an income generating activity.
Our targeted groups for young men focus on puberty, sexual health, drug abuse, healthy choices, respectful relationships & leadership. It includes education and mentoring around risk taking behaviours & hustling and teaches income generating activities.
HASE Health Clubs exist in all schools where FWI is present and is facilitated by FWI, young people, teachers and community members, sharing and growing in knowledge and support.
DEEP:
school leavers' Dream Empowerment & Enrichment Program
Sustainable, long-term connection
DEEP Vision: Youth to realise their full potential regardless s of academic or financial situation.
DEEP aims to support young people to reach their dreams after leaving high school. This program involves mentoring, skills training, counselling, income-generating activities and more.
It can take years for families to afford to send their children to high school in Kenya, and often so much sacrifice. One of the major challenges facing students finishing their studies, is the chapter after school.
Many know exactly what they want to do, but tertiary education is largely unaffordable, highly competitive and jobs are scarce.
DEEP helps bridge this gap by mentoring and training students, before they finish school. Workshops include introducing students to vocations beyond their awareness, networking with professionals and organisations, budgeting skills, business skills and income generating activities training and start-up support.
DEEP mentoring continues long after students have left school, sometimes for many years.
FWI has one DEEP "pioneer" on our Board of Directors in Kenya, who is leading his peers in redesigning the DEEP program to reflect emerging needs.
SEED Program
Making school possible, though community support
SEED Vision: freedom for students to study to their greatest potential and supporting their community to reach its own.
Education is an essential part of breaking the cycle of poverty, yet accessing it is not a reality for so many. SEED is a sustainable, income generating program for young people that contributes to community development and subsidises school feels and start-up opportunities.
In Kenya, it is common for students to be "chased" from school to find funds to continue learning. Young people often end up "hustling" on streets to find money and may spend days, weeks, or even years, chasing school fees until they return.
The SEED program was designed to give young people the means to stay in school, whilst giving back to their community.
Villages we work in identify people in need of support, including the elderly and those with disabilities. Teenagers are mentored by our FWI volunteers, and offer support like cooking, looking after animals and carrying water for community members in need. FWI then sponsors the school fees of SEED students.
The SEED program enhances community connectedness and help tackle social isolation among the most vulnerable.
SEED also includes sustainable income generating activities like poultry farming, within village homes.
SEED is currently undergoing a redesign, led by young people in Kenya who have been through the program, to ensure sustainability and responsiveness to emerging needs. Stay tuned!
ILEAP
International Letter Exchange Program
World-spanning friendships
ILEAP Vision: To encourage, support and educate through international letter writing with students in Kenya.
ILEAP was FWI's inaugural program, which connects young people in Kenya with young people in Australia and around the world. It provides a safe space to exchange language and culture, to build friendships and breakdown stereotypes.
ILEAP was developed in conjunction with Life Skills, Health & Sexual education that FWI was running in a rural Kenyan high school.
Students had incredible curiosity about other cultures and ways of life, and also shared significant gaps in basic health knowledge, with many topics too taboo to ask questions at home.
ILEAP provided these students a way to share, ask, learn, grow and develop friendships with young people in Australia and UK.
Since 2011, ILEAP has involved numerous Kenyan & Australian primary and secondary schools, as well as TAFE institutions and Universities.
If you are part of a school, group or organisation and would like to get involved in ILEAP, or would like to volunteer for ILEAP, let us know!
Freedom Art
Creative change
Vision: Empowering creativity to improve self-esteem, self-sustainability and school fee relief.
Freedom Art partners with local, Kenyan artists to train young people in various art forms & specialisations, including painting, sculpture, jewellery making and tribal techniques.
Art is an important part of Kenyan culture, of tradition and storytelling. It is often handed down through generations and Kenyan hand crafts are now renowned across the world.
Freedom Art aims to teach traditional, sustainable art-based skills to young people in Kenya as a way to connect, build identity and self-esteem, encourage creative expression, share culture and as an income generating activity.
Freedom Art products are sold in Australia to fundraise for all of FWI's programs.
So STEP
School Resources & Teacher Enrichment Program
Removing barriers to knowledge
SO STEP Vision: Resource accessibility and empowerment towards uncapped potential
Empowering people involves all members of a community. So STEP aims to empower and equip teachers and other community leaders with information and resources to help them best support young people and communities overall.
As support needs of a community change, it is essential that those who are there to help, to lead, to teach, are equipped with the knowledge, resources and skills to help effectively.
So STEP provides school and community resources, mentoring, professional development, 'train the trainer' and other opportunities. We also equip schools with materials such as pens, books, equipment to help students engage and remove school-fee related barriers to education.
If you have any resources or skills to offer So STEP, please get involved!
