Sowing Maasai Women and Girls Future

Kajiado county being semi-arid in Kenya is one of the counties facing drought facing most parts of Kenya. Due to prolonged drought, pastoralist communities have lost their livestock. Livestock, which pastoralist families rely upon for nourishment and livelihood, has died in large numbers. Crippling rural economy.

Climate change, political and economic instability, the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the damage caused by the desert locust infestation and increased food prices have intensified and blatantly exposed the vulnerability of the Maasai rural communities. Children, pregnant and lactating mothers, are acutely malnourished. This state of malnutrition among these vulnerable populations has compromised their immunity and increased their risk of exposure to disease.

Education has been hit hard as most parents prefer their children to stay home as they cannot walk the long distance to school hungry. In some cases, learners have fainted in schools due to hunger and thirst. Some learners, especially young boys, have taken out from school to assist their fathers and older brothers to go look for greener pastures. The schools do not have feeding programs that can ensure learners stay in school and this has greatly affected rural education.

Most families have adopted desperate and unhealthy coping mechanisms to deal with the atrocities of the drought. The drought has further heightened the risk of gender-based violence and sexual exploitation and abuse hampering children’s access to education. Children are at risk of dropping out of school unless urgent measures are taken to provide them with sufficient food and water.

We have been actively implementing initiatives to cushion the most vulnerable community members against the drought. To fight food insecurity and save livelihoods, the most vulnerable communities have received food packages to support their families and ensure that learners stay in school.

Additionally, to address the water, sanitation, and hygiene situation, we are trying to safeguard access to clean and safe water; proper sanitation, and effective hygiene for the local communities. This includes the drilling of boreholes and the provision of essential hygiene items and dignity kits for healthy menstrual management among school-going girls.

We call upon well-wishers to continue to support us as we continue to support the communities.

With Gratitude for your continued support!

Dear Friends,

Sanitary kits are essential for every girl and woman to help her manage her menstruation. Many girls living in rural areas do not have the privilege of getting sanitary kits every month. Rural Maasai girls miss up to 1/4 of the school year because of their menstrual periods. Lack of funds is a major attribute of accessing sanitary pads. The girls end up staying at home every month and falling behind on their schoolwork. We are addressing this education barrier by distributing sanitary pads to 600 girls in 10 schools in Kenyewa/Poka locations in Kajiado County.

Besides providing sanitary kits, we also conduct mentorship programs for the girls to understand menstrual hygiene and boost their self-confidence through sexual and reproductive health education.

The provision of sanitary kits has enabled the girls to attend school throughout the year and has reduced absenteeism in the primary school-going girls.
Sexual and reproductive health education is key to growing adolescents in rural areas as we find some of these topics are taboo, and girls cannot talk to their mothers about them, which makes girls shy. The sexual and reproductive health education and mentorship program have enabled the girls to understand their rights, their bodies, and how to manage menstruation, which has boosted their confidence. We include boys in these mentorship sessions to ensure they understand that menstruation is not a taboo topic but a natural process, and they should support the girls instead of shunning them. This has made the boys more understanding and supportive of the girls.

The girls have shown improvement in their school work as they are attending school throughout the year. This has enabled them to learn with confidence and helped them to express themselves even when they are experiencing menstruation.

Since sanitary kits are expensive, we have trained 40 women in sanitary sewing pads. This is an important skill for women and girls as they can be able to make their sanitary towels, even at home when they cannot buy them. This has boosted women's confidence in that they can provide sanitary pads for their daughters even when they may not have the money to buy them.

With Gratitude for your continued support!

Dear Friends

Women having access, ownership, and managing natural resources and the environment promotes respect, dignity and creates a paradigm shift for their invaluable contributions.

We understand that educating women on environmental justice is critical to ensure all individuals, know their rights and avoid the negative consequences of climate change, and live prosperous, dignified lives on a peaceful and healthy planet. We held training and community sensitization on Environmental justice to ensure women continuously understand their rights and can have a candid conversation on the challenges they face and how to address them.

During World AIDS day we marked the 16 days of activism against gender-based violence by holding a community dialogue with local partners and local leaders to re-affirm our commitment to fighting all forms of Gender-based violence in our community. We also took this opportunity to sensitize local women on their rights to ensure they know their rights and know the steps to follow in case of a gender-based violence case. On this day we reaffirmed our commitment to empower women and protect their rights.

We have seen a positive impact in our community and a positive change in attitude with more women involving themselves in environmental and land rights conversations and actively participating in training and discussions. The heightened policy focus on gender equality has strengthened awareness of accessibility preferences and the need for differentiated measures to allow affective participation for all.

Our work has greatly influenced community entitlement as we have brought men on board as they are the key decision-makers and have realized the need for the women's voices to be heard and are slowly becoming their champions. Bringing community elders onboard has made our advocacy work easier as they feel recognized and has enabled great participation and discussion from both genders. In addition, men’s views have also been influenced as they are more accommodating and empowering women’s voices following awareness of women’s rights. We now have women representation in the alternative dispute resolution committees that never had women in the history of the Maasai community. More stakeholders are presenting opportunities for collaboration on holistic solutions to matters of environmental justice as well as gender equality

Many thanks for your support!!

Children have endured a hard time since Covid-19 interrupted learning. It meant that the work we have been doing for the longest time was hanging by a thread. Many girls did not return to school because of either early marriage or early pregnancy. Some children were subjected to work to help with the household income and, this saw some boys not returning to school as they now preferred working instead of going to school.

In our drive to get all the children back to school through the support of the Australian High Commission Kenya, we ensure girls stay in schools by providing them with sanitary towels. 600 girls benefited from this program. We provided 150 candidates with solar lamps to enable them to learn at home. We planted trees in 10 schools for environmental education.

Many girls miss school because of menstruation and, this leads to learning loss. Many rural children do not learn or do their homework in the evenings due to the lack of electricity. The provision of solar lamps has enabled many children to have at least an hour of learning at home and completing their homework. This has improved their school performance, and this was clear in the 2021 primary school national examination. Whereby, the top candidate, a girl in one of our beneficiary schools, had well above 400 marks out of 500. Mentorship is key, as it builds the self-esteem of the girls. We have had 10 sessions, and this has improved their self-esteem.

We planted 600 indigenous and fruit trees in 10 schools. The children were very excited and have been taking care of the trees as they are also taking the environmental education to their homes where they take care of the environment.

As we continue to build back better rural schools through a partnership with Grassroots Innovation for Change, we are introducing Enhancing Children’s Education in Kenyewa/Poka Location -Kajiado County through numeracy and literacy skills to ensure school improvement among learners. We are grateful for the support you continue to give us as we improve our community.

With Gratitude.

Links:

• AHC x Patinaai Osim: Launch of 2021 Mentorship Programme

Dear Friends and our supporters,

We resumed our school activities in January 2021 by marking the International day of education-themed Recover and Revitalize Education for the COVID-19 Generation. This was an opportunity to remind our community, the importance of inclusivity in education and promote education as a fundamental right and a powerful aid to development. We spoke to 100 children about remaining in school now that they spent ten months away from school. We crowned the day by planting 100 trees in the school under the green Kenya initiative providing an opportunity for environmental education.

Through Partnership with Spread truth Africa and the National Youth Council, We joined other community organizations to hold a 3-day workshop and mark zero-tolerance day against Female Genital Mutilation. Ensuring there are heightened and collective efforts to eradicate FGM in Kajiado County. We introduced and educated the community to government agencies, their functions, and how they can benefit from their services.

We held a youth clinic with 100 youths. The Clinic was an opportunity to sensitize the youth and ensure it well advanced them on empowerment. 

We joined Noosidan Primary school, inspected the borehole project, talked to the children on matters affecting them and their rights. Through the Green Kenya Initiative, we planted 200 trees in Noosidan primary school and Illaimiror primary school.

To mark Zero tolerance against FGM day, as part of Kajiado County, we were happy to have been the first county to launch a robust policy designed to end FGM at the community level.

The policy firmly grounds on the principles of gender equality, inclusivity, and non-discrimination. It provides a legal framework required to fast-track eradication of FGM at the County level. We recommitted ourselves to End FGM in Kajiado County. 

Over 300 youths, Women, Men, and Elders attended the community outreach in Illaramatak Community Concerns grounds in Inkinye.

Patinaai Osim Centre; Through your support, we have fenced Patinaai Osim grounds and connected water. It is a milestone for us as an organization. We now seek to build the center and enabled children and women to have a safe space to engage and stay.

All these activities would not have been possible without your generous support. Thank you very much.

With love and gratitude,