BENIN CITY, NIGERIA. December 9, 2021- Pathfinders launched ‘The Freedom Project’, which is providing holistic support for sixty (60) beneficiaries (survivors of sex trafficking and at-risk-women) over the next two (2) years, in October 2021. Because we appreciate the need for psychosocial competence and personal skills that help our beneficiaries make optimal decisions, communicate effectively with others and develop effective coping skills, we organized a life skills training on ‘Effective Decision Making’ that was coupled with an introduction to the basics of entrepreneurship. Thereafter, we paired the at-risk beneficiaries with survivor advocates in our ‘Each One Reach One’ initiative, with survivor advocates serving as “my sister’s keeper” throughout the lifetime of the Project to provide mentoring, guidance and emotional support as needed. Finally, all beneficiaries were educated on staying safe during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. They also received free face masks.
Following the training, and just in time for the holidays, we organized a COVID-19 food drive, with each beneficiary receiving rice, beans, toilet paper, sanitary pads, face masks, cooking oil, tomato paste, garri, a carton of indomie noodles, salt, deodorant, cereal, milk, milo, dish soap, lunch for the day, as well and a transportation stipend. We are honoured to be able to serve these women in the capacity we do and look forward to them being protected from retrafficking, while preventing others from being trafficked in the first place.
The Freedom Project is funded by a grant from the United States Department of State, to which we are grateful. The opinions, findings and conclusions stated herein are those of Pathfinders Justice Initiative and do not necessarily reflect those of the United States Department of State.
