Ripe For Harvest's Youth Mentoring Program

In this interview, Abby Onencan discusses the youth mentoring program that is just one of the many services Ripe for Harvest offers to young people in Kenya. Ms. Onencan, founder and director of Ripe for Harvest, started the non-profit because she saw countless youth in Kenya facing challenges at home, in the job market, and at school - and they had no one to talk to. Ms. Onencan believes that, if youth have a mentor in whom they trust and gain confidence about themselves, they are more likely to find solutions to the difficulties they encounter. The youth mentoring program pairs university students with youth from 13-17 years old, in Eldoret, Nakuru and areas surrounding these cities. Outside of Eldoret, university students are mentoring youth living in Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps, who have been housed in tents since the 2007 election violence. Although Ripe for Harvest is a young NGO, it's focus on youth promises to empower a forgotten - and extremely significant - portion of Kenya's population.




Interviewer Kate Cummings is an Advocacy Project Peace Fellow and Vital Voices Field Correspondent in Kenya for the summer of 2009. Vital Voices believes in the transformative power of women's participation in society, and recognizes Ms. Onencan as an emerging leader to watch.

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• Ripe for Harvest
• Abby Onencan
• Abby Muricho
• Kate Cummings
• Advocacy Project
• Vital Voices
• Kenya
• Africa
• Youth
• Youth Mentor
• Mentor
• IDP
• Camp