Slum Girls: End Period Poverty in Nairobi slums!

Working with children in the slums of Nairobi means not only taking them to school and providing them with a quality education, but also striving to help them grow up in the round, to ensure that they have a well-rounded education, but also the tools to have a full, healthy and safe life.

That is why every year we organise many extracurricular activities in our schools in the slum and in Alice Village, our orphanage. Activities that are based on a holistic approach to education, to help each child and give him or her the necessary tools to become a functional, aware and integrated adult in his or her community.

Sex education courses
Reproductive Health, or sexual and reproductive education courses, is the basis of this educational approach.

All too often, boys and girls from the slums enter adulthood, at least from a physical point of view, without any basic knowledge of how their bodies work, how to live an emotional and sexual life safe from sexually transmitted diseases, and how to avoid early or unwanted pregnancies.

This is why we have started sex education courses in schools in Korogocho and Dandora.
These courses are aimed at boys and girls in grades four to seven, and include weekly lessons for the next 15 weeks.

The course programme ranges from knowledge and acceptance of one's own body and especially the transformations it undergoes, to what sexually transmitted diseases are and how they can be prevented.
But it also covers topics concerning gender equality, to educate boys and girls in the culture of consent in the sexual sphere as well.

Our self-defence courses
The streets of the slums are not safe places, not at all. And the situation is even more worrying for women and girls. That is why we believe it is useful for everyone and especially for our girls to know how to defend themselves.

This prompted us to start our self-defence and karate courses in our schools. Thanks to trained and certified teachers, our children and especially our girls can acquire the rudiments of self-defence and techniques to protect themselves from attackers. All this to increase their safety, and their sense of security, on a daily basis.

The training of our girls' teams continues
Since the beginning of 2022, thanks to the contribution of the Milan Foundation, we have been carrying out a great sports and social inclusion project. We are also taking women's football to schools in the slums, organising a big tournament between the different schools in the slum, together with the construction of a well-equipped sports field.

Sport helps overcome barriers, including gender barriers, increases self-confidence as well as the ability to work as a team. It has a high educational value for those who practise it but also for the whole community.

In recent weeks, team training has come into full swing, as has the work on the new sports centre. Soon everything will be ready for the start of the tournament!