KEEP A GIRL IN SCHOOL CAMPAIGN

Awino is a form 1 girl from Manyatta Kisumu. She's a very brilliant girl and loves reading. She is a daughter of a single mother who earns her income by doing laundry for people. However, she tells us that During her periods, she fears going to school because she has heavy periods and cannot afford to access sanitary towels for the whole week.

'Sanitary towels are expensive. I fear going to school during periods because I cannot afford them. Most times I stay at home, I either use toilet paper or wear two panties instead of towels. If I happen to be lucky and get one piece of sanitary towel, I use it for a whole day or two. That's how I survive. I hate missing school because of my periods' Awino told us during one Girls Talk activity in Manyatta informal settlement.

14-year-old Awino during a GIRLS TALK in Obunga

Terry is a 15-year-old, form one girl in a local secondary school in Kisumu County. For Terry, she had lost her parents and belongings due to a fire outbreak at her slum residence in Manyatta. She lost all her belongings including clothes, books, and very many personal belongings. A few days after the incident, she narrates her surviving tactic with a pant that she wears in the morning and lets them dry during the night. During periods, she was forced to wear cold pants or stay without a pant at all. “Even when I finally got a packet of sanitary towels from the school distribution program, I didn’t have a panty to use the towels on, at this point, I didn’t know what to do and I felt like leaving school.” Terry Narrates.

Sex for pads is on the rise in Kisumu rural areas. We came across two young ladies from Obunga, Awiti and Stacy told us how difficult it was for them to get sanitary towels during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. They couldn't find jobs to do, thus didn't have enough money for their needs. They were introduced to sexual work by their friend. They don't enjoy what they do, but they have to trade their bodies in exchange for money to buy sanitary towels. Through the keep a girl in school campaign, we provide her with Sissy kits (toilet papers, sanitary towels, and lotions).

Sanitary towels are not easily accessible to girls from underserved communities. This is the main reason why a lot of humanitarian support should address period poverty adopting a comprehensive multi-agency approach. You cannot support an adolescent girl with sanitary towels alone without assessing her other menstrual needs like panties for instance.

Women Volunteers for Peace (WOVOP) runs a campaign called Keep a Girl in School. This campaign intends to ensure that girls, like Awino and Terry, don’t miss out on school because of their periods.

The Keep a Girl in School is a community-initiated idea, community-owned, and community-led under WOVOP coordination. WOVOP has been doing resource mobilization targeting individuals, well-wishers, donors, and partners both from state and no-state, local and international agencies. The main activities have been idea pitching and communication, collection of donations, and distribution to the identified 2000 girls enrolled in the program as beneficiaries to keep them in school

We provide dignity kits containing panties, towels, tissue rolls, lotion, face towels, and soap to Vulnerable girls from informal settlements of Manyatta, Nyalenda, Obunga, Bandani, and in primary and secondary schools every month.

Sample of dignity kits to the Adolescent girl's beneficiaries of Keep A Girl in School Campaign

We do this by sourcing for funds from our friends, family, and partners to help us raise money for the dignity kits. During the COVID-19 pandemic, we have distributed up to 10,000 dignity kits to girls from informal settlements such as Bandani, Kibos, Obunga, Manyatta, and Nyalenda.

The program mapped 2000 girls living in the mentioned 5 specific areas for support with essential puberty and confidence educational and donation of the dignity kits, to reduce unplanned and unintended pregnancies and help them transition to a higher level of education by 2026.

Community outreach to distribute 200 Dignity Kits to Kisian Secondary school girls under the program.

Through the program, we have emerged the top 4 in a nationwide Bootcamp through the Yetu initiative, sponsored by USAID and Aga Khan Foundation. The Bootcamp was a seven-month capacity-building training on how to undertake local resource mobilization. WOVOP campaign strategy and impact stories ok keep a girl in school, topped 4 among other inspiring stories that received acknowledgments and awards.

We thank all our friends, family, and partners for always supporting us in our endeavor to empower adolescent girls in Kisumu County and beyond.

Women Volunteers for peace staff (Wendy) receives an award from USAID-KENYA on behalf of the organization towards the Keep A Girl In School Campaign.

To this end, We would also love to reach out to more friends of WOVOP and partners to join the donation spree by sending any amount of money through the Pay bill 891300, account number 48171, or call 0706081614 for dignity kits delivery to support more girls.