In Uasin Gishu county Eldoret, Kenya, 1 in 3 young children experience sexual abuse, but have no safe space to speak. Trauma makes them drop out, forget, and fear school. Teachers want to help but have no tools, and parents see abuse as a taboo.
We created Tumaini Safe Child Learning Clubs because safety must be taught as early as ABCs. Our belief: A safe child is a strong learner. If a 5-year-old can learn body autonomy, emotional regulation, and how to speak up through play and art, we can stop abuse before it destroys their learning journey.
Tumaini is a weekly, low-cost, play-based safety club inside ECDE and lower primary.
In practice it looks like this:
1. For Children (4-10 yrs): 60-minute joyful circles using games, songs, storytelling, drawing and drama to learn body safety, rights, feelings, and how to report.
2. Peer Champions: Older children (10-12) are trained to protect younger ones.
3. For Teachers: A simple toolkit and training to run clubs, handle disclosures safely, and create trauma-sensitive classrooms.
4. For Mothers & Community: Mothers' support groups, chiefs and children officers linked to the school for fast referral.
It costs less than $1 per child per month, needs no electricity, and is run by existing teachers. Learning becomes healing.
Started in 2022 in 2 schools in Eldoret, Tumaini now runs in 15 ECDE & primary schools in Uasin Gishu, reaching 2,400+ children (4-12 yrs) and 60 teachers.
It spreads through existing teachers, not our staff. After training, teachers run clubs themselves. Parents demand it after seeing children speak up and stay in school. Sub-county Education Office now invites us to teacher trainings. Word-of-mouth from Mothers' Groups and chiefs has driven 8 new schools to request the program with zero advertising
We started as an abuse-reporting program. We learned young children don't report with forms, they report through play.
So we added: 1) Play & arts healing curriculum for 4-7 year olds, 2) Peer Champions model so children protect each other, 3) Mothers' Healing Circles after mothers said "we were also abused", 4) A one-page visual toolkit so low-literacy teachers can run it without internet or power. It changed from a protection project to an early learning program.
It is easy and free to try:
1. Contact Tumaini Initiative - we share our free toolkit (manual, 12 game cards, feelings chart). 2. Attend a 2-day teacher training (in-person or virtual).
3. Start with one 60-min club per week in your ECDE/primary class. We mentor you via WhatsApp for 3 months.
4. Link to your local children officer and chief for referrals.Email: tumainihandmissions@gmail.com WhatsApp: [+254713062834]. You need no budget, just a safe space to play
