Abigail and Hope, aged 19 and 24 respectively, remember how life changed when their father died in 2004. Only children at the time, their family was plunged into poverty and the girls needed to help their mother make ends meet. In addition to braiding hair and selling sweets, the sisters would accompany their mother to the market to sell vegetables. At 14, Hope became pregnant and worried that her dreams of finishing her education, and being gainfully employed, may never materialize. Through a combination of their mother’s determination and their own creativity and resourcefulness, both Abigail and Hope managed to complete their high school education. 

In 2016 the sisters enrolled in DREAMS, a program funded by PEPFAR to help vulnerable adolescent girls and young women to be Determined, Resilient, Empowered, Aids-free, Mentored and Safe. They were assigned to a ‘Safe Space’, which was led by a trained, trusted mentor. A DREAMS Safe Space is a confidential community location where up to 25 girls and young women gather on a weekly basis to follow a tailored curriculum. Over 13 weeks, the group covers topics such as self-esteem, condom negotiation skills, sexual and reproductive health, HIV prevention, and financial literacy.

DREAMS set the sisters’ lives in a new direction. Abigail’s self-confidence grew, and she learnt to look at her life differently:

“I learned never to give up in life, but to use every life event as a stepping stone”.

As a young mom, Hope became determined to equip other girls with the knowledge and self-esteem to avoid a similar fate. Fueled by a passion for supporting other young women, the two sisters were hired by DREAMS to become mentors themselves. The monthly mentor allowance was a financial boost that allowed them to think about furthering their education. In January 2017, both were awarded bursaries to study heavy equipment repair- a course that could lead to employment in the mining, agriculture or transport sectors. Today, they are proud to be outperforming many of their male peers in class as they prepare to take charge in a male-dominated field.

The goal of the PEPFAR-funded DREAMS project is to reduce new HIV infections among adolescent girls and young women (AGYW), ages 10-24. DREAMS Zambia works across five provinces, in eight districts, and forty health facility catchment zones. To date, DREAMS has provided services to almost 500,000 girls and young women