Slum Girls: End Period Poverty in Nairobi slums!

Every woman counts!
By Francesca Mannina - Fundraising Manager

The last few months have been marked by important events and occasions for the girls of Alice for Children. Let's review the most significant ones together.

March 8th: Once again this year, our girls celebrated International Women's Day, discussing women's rights in Africa, and becoming increasingly aware of the progress of women's empowerment that is slowly taking hold on the continent. This holiday provided an opportunity to recognize women's rights, fight against gender discrimination, and celebrate the successes and achievements of African women.

In many African communities, women still face the practice of forced marriage, various forms of female genital mutilation, sexual violence, domestic abuse, and other forms of gender-based violence or discrimination. However, many African women are also fighting for change and working hard to improve their conditions.

In February of this year, Senator Gloria Orwoba appeared in court with her pants stained red to openly break the taboo surrounding menstruation. Despite being asked to leave the courtroom, she spoke to the media and visited a school in the capital Nairobi to distribute free sanitary pads. Many girls drop out of school due to the shame they feel from menstruation, a physiological event that turns into a social and psychological problem.

Alice for Children is at the forefront of supporting its girls, despite the long road ahead.

Thanks to your support, Alice for Children will be able to continue distributing sanitary pads to 500 girls each month and providing emergency sanitary pads in the schools where we operate. We are committed to being environmentally friendly, and as such, we collect and recycle sanitary pads in designated containers in all our schools and orphanages.

February 6th: International Day against Female Genital Mutilation is celebrated as a time to raise awareness to combat this unacceptable practice. According to Unicef, currently 4 million Kenyan women and girls have undergone genital mutilation, 21 percent of the female population aged 15-49. This reality may seem far away and barbaric to some, but it is important to understand what we don't know and to fight for the same freedoms that are not granted to all.

 Alice for Children, which has always been at the forefront of this issue, believes that this social scourge is fought in the classroom through literacy and fighting against discrimination of women. This is what we do in our schools in Nairobi and Rombo, Maasai communities where the problem of female mutilation is still very much present.

Alice for Children also organized a live Instagram broadcast from Kenya, during which our social worker from the Korogocho school explained why this phenomenon is still prevalent, especially within more traditional tribes.

November 25th:iIn 1999, the United Nations decided that this date should become the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. Violence against women is widespread in Africa and is a serious social problem. COVID-19 has exacerbated this issue, forcing millions of women and girls to live in close contact with men who have often been violent.

Alice for Children faces daily issues of violence within slums where human rights do not exist, and the freedoms of women and girls are repeatedly trampled upon. In the Korogocho slum, Nairobi, established cases of violence have increased, initially due to COVID-19, but then also due to continuously worsening living conditions.

To mark the occasion, Alice for Children organized numerous initiatives in the slums and within our schools. Courses and workshops were held to sensitize our boys and girls, as well as the entire community, about the importance of women's rights and how violence against women is a problem. Additionally, we organized a live broadcast on our Instagram page directly from Alice Village, our orphanage. We work to bring education and gender equality to these communities, as well as to help women and children through the efforts of our social workers.