The daily lives of those living in the maternity home will be multi-faceted and offer an enriching family atmosphere. 

Rehema Programs:

Prenatal/Postnatal Care-Each new resident will receive medical insurance through the maternity home, beginning with a thorough physical exam at a safe hospital. If insurance is not possible (no identification or under the age of 18), a normal delivery cost between $500-900 and all medical expenses will be covered by Mercy House. If they have health issues (such as HIV), they will receive needed medications and support. Weekly check-ups will be performed by the staff nurse at the maternity home. Girls will receive proper nutrition, prenatal vitamins. The home will be equipped with emergency birthing supplies, but the plan is for deliveries (natural and c-sections) to take place at a very nice private hospital located close to the home, covered under insurance. The girls will receive excellent care and follow doctor's guidelines during their 6 week postnatal experience. Breastfeeding will be highly encouraged, although formula will be available to moms with HIV.

Nutrition-This is a crucial area in the programming. Because of extreme poverty, food often has low-nutritional value.  Protein is rare and many times it is hard to find. There will be education on proper nutrition while pregnant, while nursing and even what to feed babies and children. False information will be dispelled. Each resident will have healthy balanced daily portions that include: fresh vegetables, protein, eggs and milk.

Counseling-Since rape is such a huge contributing factor to unplanned/unwanted pregnancies, there will be extensive counseling in this area by the staff Social Worker and also the private hospital has a Crisis Rape Program. Counseling for emotional issues, family problems and personal crisis will also be available. There will be books and resources to aid in the healing process.

*Updated* Our staff has received very specific training dealing with counseling children in trauma it is called Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy(TF-CBT), a model with ten stages.

TF-CBT is an effective, flexible, culturally sensitive/adaptable to other cultures and adaptable for use by non-professionals it was discovered by Becca C Johnson a psychologist from America. It is a counseling that encourages progress, educates about trauma, teaches self-help skills, addresses thoughts and feelings that affects our behaviors, focuses on one’s trauma, encourages sharing one’s story, involves caregivers in the healing process and evaluates unhealthy perspectives.

The  components are:

·       Psycho-education; Emotion regulation

·       Correcting unhelpful beliefs;Trauma narrative

·       Positive parenting

Below are the 10 stages/steps to emotional healing after trauma:

1.     Gathering-building rapport and book about me, drawing

2.     Learning-psycho-education; Helping-parenting skills

4.     Relaxing-relaxation;  Feeling-affective expression and modulation

6.     Thinking-cognitive coping and processing 1

7.     Sharing 1-trauma narrative

8.     Evaluating-cognitive coping & processing 2

9.     Sharing 2-caregiver-child sessions

10.  Living-in vivo mastery(enhancing future safety, living well, living safe, living free)

Spiritual-This is the most important part of the program because we can offer opportunity, but only Christ can offer true hope. Every aspect of the home will occur from a prayerful perspective. Sound Biblical teaching will occur on a daily basis, with morning devotions. Regular church attendance is required. While religion is not forced and girls don't have to be Christians to live in the maternity home, they do have to participate in meetings. The local church is a resource and much of the outreach will be done through them.

Education-Many of the residents will be school-aged girls since many Kenyan schools don't allow pregnant girls to continue their education. The maternity home wants to provide a safe, positive environment for the students to continue their studies. There will be several laptops with home school curriculum, grades 7-12. There is a certified teacher on staff who will help the girls a few hours a day with their studies. 

Outreach- We want the maternity home to have a positive impact on the slums and surrounding community. Future plans include positive community development through teaching abstinence, parenting, first aid, CPR, wound care, etc. We will also be working with Crisis Pregnancy of Kenya and a Maternity Clinic in the slums, by providing them with medical supplies and other resources as needed.

Skills for Living- The maternity home will not have hired staff for household tasks. It is imperative the girls are trained with skills for living: preparing and cooking nutritional meals, gardening, shopping in the local market, bargaining for the best price, cleaning, laundry, budgeting finances and childcare. Much of this training will happen by living and working together. Compassion International is helping customize curriculum for this area.

Job Skills-There will be 2-3 hours each day set aside for learning and completing specific skills:

-Sewing: the maternity home owns four sewing machines and a local seamstress will teach basic sewing skills. Once basics are learned, simple patterns will be taught to produce items in beautiful Kenyan fabrics: stylish handbags, scarves, little girls skirts and more! These items will be exported and sold in various places.

-Jewelry: hand-crafted paper beads will be created with recycle paper to make gorgeous pieces of jewelry. Unique samples have already been made!

-Crafts: Paper mache bowls and lovely hanging paper mache mobiles will be a colorful addition to anyone's home decor. These items will be made from 100% recyclable materials.

-Other-craft-making skills will be taught

Personal Economic Development Account:

25% of the proceeds from the products will be placed into an account for each girl (The other 75% will go directly back into the maternity home for operating expenses) for business start-up or continued education after graduation from the maternity home. This money will be dispersed as part of the graduate program.

Graduate Program:

Monthly dinners will be the setting for graduates to check-in on their progress, access needs, offer guidance. They will also pick up a monthly stipend from their account for their business, education, living expenses. There will also be the option to continue producing items and exporting them to be sold in the U.S.