Over $21,000 in Savings Generated in 2009

Posted by Rachael Pool on Monday, March 08, 2010

We’ve finalized jewelry totals for 2009, and begun transferring funds into the girls’ bank accounts. I’ve got some exciting stats that I’d love to share with everyone today. In 2009 the Emerge girls made 2127 pieces of jewelry, generating $21,217.78 in savings for program participants! Our highest earner, RS, made nearly $1,900 USD.

To give you a little context: $120 is the average monthly salary of a Sri Lankan worker (Sri Lanka Department of Census and Statistics, Household Income and Expenditure Survey, 2006/2007). This means that, through her work with Emerge, RS has generated more in savings than the average yearly income of a working Sri Lankan.

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Building Life Skills: Red Cross Joins Emerge Global to Teach Infant and Child CPR and First Aid

Posted by Alia on Monday, February 01, 2010

Three years ago, we witnessed a tragedy that could have, and should have been avoided. One of our program participant’s five-month-old baby passed away after choking in his sleep. Through the Emerge Bead Program, we want to make sure this never happens again.

This December, as a result of the initiative of our wonderful Programs Director, Jennifer, we collaborated with the Red Cross to host a workshop on infant and child First Aid and CPR for the Ma-Sevana girls and their matrons. We wish it had happened sooner but are excited to say it was quite the success. We plan to do similar workshops for future program participants.

One of our priorities for 2010 is to develop a consistent life skills curriculum to be interwoven into the Bead Program. Right now, we hope to divide our life skills curriculum into five monthly themes:

(1) Goals and Planning for Your Future

(2) Your Body, Your Life, and Your Health

(3) Managing Your Money

(4) Job Opportunities, Coaching, and Planning

(5) Community Development

The life skills units will each consist of at least one event with an outside speaker, workshops and trainings hosted by our dedicated Bead Program Coordinator, Nirukshi, and activities that the girls will engage in with their mentors once our Mentorship Program is launched. If you have experience in any of these areas or would like to help contribute curriculum, we’d love to hear from you! Please email Jennifer, our Programs Director, at Jennifer@emergeglobal.org

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Former Emerge Participant APIL Helps Emerge Launch in a New Home!

Posted by Rachael Pool on Tuesday, November 24, 2009

“APIL* Miss!” a student calls for attention. I look over to see APIL beam a smile while confidently explaining a jewelry pattern to one of Emerge’s new students. In July 2007 APIL started as an Emerge program participant at Ma Sevena. In 2008 she left Ma Sevena; two weeks ago she began helping us work with a new generation of Emerge girls at the National Training and Counseling Centre in Panadura.

The National Training and Counseling Centre in Panadura is Emerge Global’s newest program site. The home is run by the Sri Lankan Probation Department (the same department that handles all of the court cases for the girls at Ma Sevena). This home is the department’s model home and they have expressed interest in using their work there to identify programs that could be successfully replicated in other homes in Sri Lanka. There are approximately twenty five girls in the Panadura home at any given time. Each girl stays for six to nine months of counseling and rehabilitation before being placed in another location. The girls are all survivors of abuse.

Every week, APIL takes the bus from Matara to Panadura- five hours each way- in order to help lead the Emerge workshops. Though she initially seemed nervous, she’s come to fill her new role with confidence and poise. She’s even planning to wear a sari to the next workshop, where she will speak to the girls about her experiences living in, and leaving, a group home. We couldn’t be happier to witness this former participant taking responsibility and leading the new girls to empowering and active participation in the Emerge Bead Program.

* I have used APIL's initials to protect her confidentiality.

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