The Wokovu Project directly supports Kilimanjaro Young Girls in Need (KYGN). KYGN is a local non-profit based in Moshi, Tanzania providing education, vocation training, support services and ultimately, hope to at-risk girls in the villages surrounding Mt. Kilimanjaro. The girls who attend KYGN are young women who have experienced significant hardships in their lives (abandoned, extreme poverty, orphaned, no money for school, absuse etc.) and are at KYGN for a second chance. At least for the secondary girls- many are teenage mothers, none are attending school in any formal context and all are striving towards a better future than the present before them. For more information on KYGN, please go to kygn.org.
The Wokovu Project is dedicated to coming alongside this small non-profit and supporting their efforts with the necessary funds to provide the materials and services that these young girls desperately need. We believe that together, we can make a significant difference in the lives of these extraordinary women . In particular, our goal is to raise $4000 to cover the annual salary of a Tanzanian social worker so the girls can receive needed counseling, emotional support and home visits.
Please check us out, consider donating or come to one of our events!
The Story
In June 2009, I had the privilege and great opportunity to spend five weeks volunteering in Moshi, Tanzania. During my time there I taught English and Math at the KYGN Vocational Center where I soon fell in love with these truly amazing women. These young women crept into my heart, taught me the essence of true beauty and strength and in end, changed my life forever.
When I (begrudgingly) returned, I gathered my good friends one Friday night at my West Seattle home to share my adventures and the stories of the girls at KYGN whom I’d met. As the sun set over the Puget Sound that night, we decided that even in a world as big as this one, even we could do something to make a real difference in the lives of these young girls and so, the Wokovu Project what born.
So wait a second.. what does Wokovu mean? Wokovu is Swahili (the language predominately spoken in Tanzania) meaning rescue, redemption and/or liberation. These young women are strong, funny, interesting and brilliant yet are also in real need of the education, training and services that KYGN provides. Therefore through these funds, we are all able to play a role in the rescue and liberation of these girls from poverty.
