Kenya: Girls World
Posted by Administrator on February 12, 2010
Mukuru Kwa Njenga- Thousands of girls from this slum as well as millions of others from poor families across Africa have been forced to stay out of class every month because they cannot afford to cope with menstrual cycles. They have no access to sanitary towels which are inaccessible and unaffordable. But majority will be able to continue with their classes without obstacles due to introduction of re-usable sanitary towels here in Kenya.
The program dubbed Huru which means free in swahili is an initiative from corporate America and Elton John’s Foundation and aims at giving millions of under priviledged girls a ray of hope to continue with their education without any hindrances. Each girl receives a kit consisting of eight re-usable towels, five pairs of underwear, soap, a plastic bag and a carrier bag.
But how hygienic are these re-usable sanitary towels?
Wanjiru Kefa is the administrative manager fom American Share one of the corporate partners in this initiative.
“The material we use for the pad is 100% cotton. We train the girls to wash the pads, make sure they understand that it is important for the pad to dry completely before they re-use it,” Wanjiru said. “To facilitate that, we give them eight pads per kit so that they have enough to change and they will also have enough time to dry the ones they had used the day before, before they need to re-use it again,” she added.
According to the United Nations Chiildren’s Fund (UNICEF), one in ten school going girls across the continent skip school during menstration losing close to four days every month. In extreme cases the stigma attached to the menstrual process coupled with lack of clean sanitation facilities at school has brought the premature end to to some girls shooling.
They say neccessity is the mother of invention and the lack of sanitary towels in most cases has forced the girls to use creative and sometimes unhygenic alternatives.
“We were using magazines and some clothes when we were not having sanitary towels,” said one of the girls.
“Did it make you miss some classes?,” asks the interviewer.
“Yeah, because you find that we are shy because blood might come out during classes and so may we sit home during times of periods,” the girl adds.
“ I was using a cloth or nothing and just stayed like that. We were not able to attend classes as we feared standing up when a teacher asks a question,” says another.
The re-usable towels will be provided at no cost to the girls. They will be accessible to millions of girls assures Wanjiru Kefa.
“We will give them for free to the girls so the girls will actually not have to pay anything. We are still working on the process with the Kenya Bureau of Standards and as soon as we are through with them, we will be able to put it in the market and make sure it is accessible to as many people who might want to buy as possible,” Wanjiru said
Days free from embarrassment of having to hide oneself during the menstrual will now be a thing of the past something the girls across Kenya will be happy to sing about.
Material derived from an audio from the BBC world service put together by Angela Ngendo.
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