International Women's Day 2022
With the theme of 2022’s International Women’s Day being “Break the Bias”, it’s the perfect opportunity to celebrate the work of our Tanzanian partner, School Girl Essentials, and the expansion of Education All Month, Every Month in schools in and around the city of Arusha.
As we have highlighted previously, African girls miss school every month - just because they are girls. Period poverty, where families are unable to afford sanitary towels or even underwear for their daughters, combined with cultural taboos mean many girls are forced to use unsanitary rags, animal skins and even chicken feathers as protection during their periods.
This makes the prospect of going to school while menstruating impossible. Missing a week’s schooling each month has an enormous detrimental impact on a girls’ progress and they often fall so far behind that they drop out of school completely, often before completing Primary School.
The result: a lack of education, hope and future – for girls and their families.
Education All Month, Every Month changes that.
The supply of sanitary towels, underwear and a social education forum make a huge difference to girls born into poverty, enabling them to attend school all month, every month.
In late 2021 and early 2022, we have been successful in securing three significant grants to support the Education All Month, Every Month programme in Kenya and Tanzania. In Kenya, our partner Watoto Kwanza is trialling the use of reusable sanitary towels, whereas in Tanzania - where reusable sanitary towels are culturally and practically the best solution - the funds are supporting the scheme’s expansion.
In fact, in the first two months of 2022, School Girl Essentials has already provided sanitary towels and an education forum to almost 650 girls in three new secondary schools. Wow! They have also started running education forums with boys so they can support their sisters, friends and classmates.
But rather than us tell you how effective these measures are, we’re passing the floor to Neema, Bembeleza, Amos, Naisula, Naima and Asha to tell you in their own words!
“I had my first period experience last year in August when I was in Form one. It came with the most acute pain cramps which made me feel like I had serious health problems. My mother told me to use painkillers which helped mildly. Now, after the lessons on Menstrual Health and Hygiene, I know the pain is just part of the biological nature of the body. Thank you School Girl Essentials for the lesson.”
“I used to think the menstrual period is such a dirty process. Each time it arrives I would really hate the situation. The lessons I have learnt from the programme now give me so much confidence to talk about my body changes with people close to me, including my brothers.”
“Thank you for giving us the lessons. As boys, we always hear menstruation as a girls’ issue not knowing that we can be part of encouraging our sisters and friends during the monthly cycle.”
“You have gone into so many details about Menstrual Health and Hygiene and the menstrual cycle. In biology class, we only get a very short version of it.”
“Thank you for providing us with sanitary pads. I am a hostel student who joined the school on scholarship. My family is far and the network is not always effective in reaching my mother on the phone to ask for sanitary pads. Sometimes I use pieces of cloth which is really uncomfortable. I am happy that I now have reusable pads to last me 3 years.”
“We wish we had these lessons sooner but we are happy to have received them even now. Being a student with disability can be very costly because of all the other medical procedures involved. Thank you School Girl Essentials for visiting us and providing us with lessons and sanitary pads.”
To help girls like Neema, Bembeleza, Naisula, Naima and Asha break the bias of school and improve their opportunities for an equal future thanks to the myriad of benefits provided by regular education, please consider making a monthly donation to African Children’s Fund so we can continue to support our partners’ work. Thank you in advance.