Teen mentoring
Our Programs
Teaching critical lessons
Living in rural Malawi, many young people do not receive exposure to the possibilities that exist beyond the limits of Salima. Our Teen Mentoring Program aims to inspire and push our girls by showing them the paths they could take - and that there are more options for them other than being mothers or wives. They can be anything they put their minds & hearts to.
The program serves 90 students currently and meets twice a week. Each year we select a theme to teach, and we employ diverse teaching strategies to make sure the lesson gets through to our students - lessons like how to say no, how to negotiate, and other important topics that don’t get covered in their classrooms. We bring in speakers, career women from a wide-range of professions, teachers and mentors, and teach through workshops, role-playing, and more. And there’s follow-up -- the staff at Voices Awake keep an eye on students to see that they are using their newly acquired skills in their day-to-day lives.
The Teen Mentoring Program also provides opportunities to visit our capitol, Lilongwe, for a taste of city life. Exposing them to this bustling city is eye-opening, and many have never been before. We also brought them to visit Lake Malawi, to show them just how big & beautiful the world is.
With exposure to new possibilities, carefully-planned lessons, and accountability, students expand their dreams and become more responsible, thoughtful, and capable young people.
Sustainable Development Goals addressed:




Critical lack of female role models
Malawi suffers from a critical lack of female teachers, meaning those girls able to get to school lack the role models to help encourage them to stay.
[Camfed]
90 students and counting
Our mentorship program provides mentoring, inspiration, and new experiences for 90 youth in our community. That's 90 young people learning critical lessons and seeing their potential grow.
2 meetings every week
The mentorship program meets twice a week, once as a collective and once in small groups. We apply varied teaching strategies and bring guest teachers to make sure our lessons last.







