Beauty for Ashes focuses on empowering and bettering the lives of the girls and women in Arusha. Like a phoenix rising out from the ashes, these women (ages 13-25) have experienced extreme hardships throughout their lives and are now hoping for a fresh start. Their problems range from childhood marriages and pregnancies, marital abuse or abandonment –  to being completely cast out of society. 

Started in January of 2022, Beauty for Ashes offers counseling sessions, mental and spiritual wellness and physical fitness, as well as business training to the young women in the program. Meetings take place three times a week and are facilitated by Program Manager, Liz Wambura, as well as three trained social workers.

Currently, the business training consists of Batik and Kitenge making, hair plaiting and sewing and cooking skills. There are plans for educational classes that will teach skills such as business plan writing, accounting, how to start a small business and how to obtain a micro loan in the near future. 

Each meeting starts and finishes with the program’s motto – “Raising the Standards”.  Each of these young women dream of owning their own place and being financially stable and Beauty for Ashes is there to help them obtain this dream.