Over 250 of our girls at the children's centre are forced to miss school while they are menstruating because they don't have access to sanitary products. It is common for a girl to miss up to 12 weeks of school annually, and her grades and advancement opportunities suffer. It is close to impossible for a girl in Kenya to manage and keep her period concealed. Menstrual kits will help empower girls to stay in school, without feeling shame for being on their periods.
Hundreds of girls in Kenya struggle to stay in school while menstruating. Managing their periods is difficult not only because of the inconvenient and uncomfortable symptoms associated with it, but because they lack the products to keep their period from soiling their clothes. This project will provide girls with menstrual kits, a product that will prevent girls from unhygienic situations, keep them in school since they will be able to conceal their periods, and empower them to stay active.
Girls will stay in school if they have the right products to help them stay clean and active during their uncomfortable and embarrassing menstrual cycles.Menstrual kits are a reusable product that are clean and conceal a period. Kits cost only $5 each, last a year or more, and come with variety of washable absorbent pads for different flows, a feminine liner and a pouch to conceal and carry used pads home to wash.
250 girls can advance in school, graduate from school, and be empowered to live actively and openly with cleaner and safer hygienic conditions during menstruation. Girls who graduate school have an increased chance of rising out of poverty and making a living on her own. This could change the vicious cycle of too many girls dropping out of school and becoming young mothers. Instead girls and women will feel confident and comfortable to stay in school, stay in jobs, and stay active.
