Sanitary Pads Keep Ugandan Girls in School

In the face of continued school closures, poor access to educational resources, and waning student, engagement early marriage, teen pregnancy and child labor are all on the rise in Uganda. Lack of education impacts all children but those from marginalized communities like ours are impacted most and girls most of all.

Most of our children have not been on school for almost 2 years. To combat the impact of COVID-19 on our schools our wonderful staff has sought to ensure children continue to learn! Every two weeks our team assembles and delivers home learning packets to over 2,500 students in rural areas surrounding Kibale National Park. Completed work is collected, marked and returned to the students.

When schools opened in Uganda briefly in May we were all primed to being sexual health programming to Grades 4-6 on the 16 schools we work with. Sadly schools closed again at the begginning of July - likely unitl 2022 - but what we achieved in one month shows the potential impact of well organized, properly funded projects on girls' wellbeing.

 535 girls in 16 school health clubs received weekly after-class health programming for a total of 2,745 student activities in the first month. Numbers were restricted to members of school health clubs because of COVID and lessons were 30 minutes long.

Topics differed from school to school, depending on areas that teachers felt were of prime importance to their particular students.  They covered a range of subjects intended to help girls stay in school, giving both practical health advice (e.g. personal hygiene, constructing re-useable menstrual pads, nutrition, HPV vaccinations etc.) and psychological support for everyday challenges including returning to school after COVID. 

Ugandan students are returning to school and colleges are opening their doors. Released from lock down our secondary school graduates are busy investigating the next steps in their educational journey. This is an especially important choice for our 10th Grade girls. They need to find a career path that speaks to their interests and skills, will allow them to upgrade as time and circumstances permit, will pay them a living wage and will enable them to combine work and family in the future.

In March 2021 four of our girls chose a new course at our local Mountains of the Moon Univeristy - A certificate in Surgical Theatre Techniques. The 2 year course will qualify them to work specifically in the field of surgery. We wish them the best of luck.

Uganda has recorded around 20,000 cases of COVID-19 and about 200 deaths. The government acted fast, closing borders and shutting schools in March.

Since then  we have had no face to face contact with our girls. Our programs supporting their reproductive health have been put on hold. and we have been unable to reach a whole cohort of girls who have begun their periods in the last year. Normally we would be ensuring they understood the changes to their bodies and emotions, were given accurate facts about reproductive biology and had lessons in how to make resuable menstrual pads.

We have seen the impact of the epidemic in rising girls' dropout rates in classes that returned to school in November. Increased unemployment and falling incomes have led families to encourage early marriage and jobs in the informal employment sector - helping in shops, roadside fruit and vegetable sellers, agricultural work. Teen pregnancy rates are on the rise forcing girls to lose education.

In an attempt to provide and  support we can we went on the air with phone-in radio programs directed specifically at girls - although we hope their brothers listen too! Topics covered included puberty and teen pregnancy, parent child relationships and childprotection, sexulally transmitted diseases, gender based violence, and posiitve self esteeem, nurtition and body image.

We hear that schools are due to go back in January. It won't be soon enough for many of our girls, we can't wait.

Links:

• Talking about periods!

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and related social-distancing measures have left Ugandan primary and secondary schools closed through at least September. This regrettably forced us to discontinue our school-based sexual and reproductive health education and outreach activities. But this hasn't stopped or even slowed our work!

Turn Up the Radio

To reach not only our students, but their families and communities as well, The Kasiisi Project staff have taken our messages to the Ugandan radio airwaves. We kicked off our health-related radio programs earlier this summer, and we'll continue until schools reopen. Our health educators Patrick and Shammy, along with the district health educator Catherine, have or will address topics related to personal hygiene, menstruation, COVID-19, puberty and teenage pregnancy.

So far, all of our radio programs have been well received, with a large number of enthusiastic and appreciative listeners calling in!

The New Senga

Our health team is putting the final touches on a Parent's Sexual and Reproductive Health Handbook. In Ugandan culture, discussions around sexuality occur only between a girl and her father's sister, a role known as a Senga. With disruptions in family structure brought about by the country's high fertility, this functional relationship has diminished, if not disappeared. Our hope is to start training parents to act as Sengas for their children, both girls and boys. Without the structure of school, children face increased risks, including teenage pregnancy, so the timing of this effort is critically important. To the best of our knowledge, this handbook will be the first of its kind produced for and distributed in rural western Uganda.

We're also working on online materials and downloadable, offline activities around sexual and reproductive health. With the efforts described above and these new tools, we hope to persist our messages and strengthen families and communities -- in spite of this awful pandemic.

We are humbled and grateful for the outpouring of support over the past month, particularly with the knowledge that the pandemic changed many people’s financial circumstances. Now more than ever, we remain committed to protecting Kibale National Park and enhancing surrounding communities, as we have for the past 22 years.

Thank you and stay safe, strong and healthy.