Simone Claxton is on a drive to positively change the lives of women and girls locally, regionally and internationally.

How does she plan to get this done? Through the Sapphire Miriam Foundation. She is its president and founder.

The foundation is named after her daughter, Sapphire Miriam, 11, and “aims to promote educational, entrepreneurial, empowerment training programmes/projects to young men and women as well as single parents over a period of time to ensure their personal growth and development.”

In an interview, Claxton said the foundation was started about nine and a half years ago when she herself was also a single parent.

Besides her daughter being her biggest inspiration, Claxton was also inspired and driven to start the foundation when she saw how difficult life was for two other single mothers.

She became a single parent when her daughter was just a year old and, at the time, Claxton was unemployed. However, she began working at the Social Welfare division in south Trinidad shortly after, and one day saw a young mother with a baby who was constantly crying.

[caption id="attachment_897873" align="alignnone" width="960"] Participants in the Sapphire Miriam Foundation's empowerment programme go through training sessions that include self-esteem, confidence and values; mental wellness and coping with stress; diet and nutrition; beauty and make-up; robotics, climate change; puberty hygiene and sex education; financial literacy; gender-based violence; and the rights of the child. -[/caption]

“I peeped into one of the officer’s booths and saw that there was a young mother – she had a newborn baby on her shoulder, and also there was a toddler walking around, about a year and a half, the same as mine...

"Then I saw another child and I thought, twins? I said, ‘No. This can’t be.’”

Claxton realised that life for that mother could not have been easy and she became emotional just thinking about it. This drove her to begin looking for organisations that assisted single mothers – but she found none.

She then started helping people informally.

Another day she saw a woman with a child in front of a San Fernando bank asking for help. The child was also the same age as Claxton’s daughter.

“Her child picked up a cookie from the pavement and ate it, and I said, ‘Wait, nah, this could be my child doing this.’

“You just can’t close your eyes to what is going on with people around you. And that is why I started to help and eventually form the organisation.”

The NGO was registered in March 2012.

[caption id="attachment_897876" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Sapphire Miriam Foundation founder Simone Claxton, left, and guest presenter Heather Alexis-Martin of the JMMB Group speak to participants in the girls empowerment programme about financial management. -[/caption]

Through the Sapphire Miriam Foundation, Claxton supports single mothers and youth, namely girls. She said in supporting the mothers, the children are given a better chance.

“As a single mother you get so tied up. There is so mu