Support 2000 Kenya school girls with reusable pads

Our schools are progressing on well although challenges have been increasing each and every moment.  Our school calendar was really affected by our national elections conducted in August 2022.   Elections in Kenya are mainly conducted in learning institutions since they have enough rooms to accommodate voters.  Ministry of Education directed schools management to release students at earlier dates than it was previously planned.  This was to allow ample time for elections preparations and parents had no options but to pick their children from schools.  It was expected that they would resume their studies immediately after elections but this was not the case since the ministry of education kept postponing the opening dates.  Due to the elections issues, the students ended up staying at home for more than 2 weeks thus wasting a lot of their learning time.  They reported back on Thursday last week and they are forced to go extra miles to cover the wasted period.  It is more challenging to the candidates who are expected to sit for their final national exams between November and December.  We are walking the tough journey with the learners mainly encouraging them that it will be well for them and they will still perform well in their exams.  Due to these challenges, it will not be possible for us to conduct trainings in schools as earlier reported but we hope that we will do so next year.  On the other hand we did not manage to distribute reusable sanitary towels to our girls first because school calendar really changed and second because we were not able to fundraise enough money to purchase sanitary towels for our girls.  Fundraising has been a major challenge to us hence affecting our activities implementation.  This is not only happening to us but to many other organizations.  We are not ready to give up and we will continue struggling in fundraising till we achieve our desired goals.  We appreciate all our friends, donors, partners and well-wishers for their continued support.  Thank you for walking the journey with us and we request for more support from you. 

Students are now back to school for another school term after long March/April holiday.  National exams were done in March and April for class 8 and form 4 and the results are already released.  It is wonderful to see our young girls from primary schools graduate to secondary schools.  In one way or the other we have contributed to their success and we are proud of them as we wish them well in their further studies.  Support channeled to us through GlobalGiving platform for our project has enabled our girls remain in school throughout the school period hence contributing in improvement in the studies.  We appreciate all the support given to this project and we hereby express our gratitude to all those who have supported us.  It is a great progress to see children from vulnerable households excel in their studies and have opportunities ahead of them.  As earlier reported, we intend to conduct trainings for our girls in schools for the period they will be in schools.  The crush program will be on going until end of the year which means that we still don’t have much time but whenever given the opportunity by the school administrations to conduct the trainings we will be ready.  We understand in case we don’t get opportunity for the remaining school calendar but we will continue next year when the school calendar will get back to normal.  Meanwhile where possible we will distribute reusable sanitary towels to the vulnerable girls to ensure they remain in schools throughout the year.  The demand for the sanitary towels has increased and we remain optimistic that we will support as many girls as possible.  Karunga Women Group have been busy making the sanitary towels with hopes that we will place huge orders.    We hope to raise funds for reusable sanitary towels to support our girls and on the other hand promote our women group.  Thank you for your support and we request for more support to enable us to continue supporting our women and girls.

A New Year 2022 is here with us and we are happy to be safe and healthy.  The year 2021 was really challenging to all of us and learners experienced change of school calendar which resulted in cutting short their holidays.  Since they reported in January, they have been having short holidays unlike before. Though the learners were not happy with the crush program, parents on one hand were happy with the program but unhappy on the other hand.  The positive side was that students remained busy with their school works and activities and had little time to be involved in bad behaviors and bad companies.  The negative part was that they had to pay school fees 4 times in a year unlike before where they paid 3 times and the time was too short for them to source school fees.  Most of our girls in our program were in school most of the times as we ensured they had enough sanitary towels and most of them improved in their class performance.  Trainings conducted also played a great role in shaping the young girls and we are optimistic that we will have more positive impacts.  The training will be on-going this year and together with our partners we will continue fundraising so as to conduct even more such training even in other affected areas.  Schools have resumed after short December holiday and we hope all our girls who are our beneficiaries will all report.  Previously we have been receiving negative reports from teachers of several girls dropping out of school due to pregnancies or early marriages especially during long December holidays.  We expect reports from teachers in different schools next week.  Candidates in primary and secondary schools will be sitting for their final national exams in March 2022.  This being the case, the school term will be pretty short and outsiders will not be allowed in the schools compounds in the course of the term to give room for exams preparations and enough time for revision.  In this case we will not conduct trainings in the schools as it has been trend but parents will be trained and trainings in schools will be conducted once they resume in May 2022.  This will give us enough time to continue fundraising for the trainings and for the reusable sanitary towels which will be distributed once the resume.  We humbly request our well-wishers, friends and partners to consider contributing to this project so as to continue supporting our girls.  We appreciate all the support given to our girls and our women group and for sure we have made them smile.  Thank you very much for your generosity we always count on you for our success. 

In this project our focus has been mainly on supporting girls with sanitary towels which has been our major activity.  The project has other activities but provision of reusable sanitary towels has been very essential and especially during the covid 19 pandemic. In the process of implementing this activity we have been addressing 2 areas one is providing sanitary towels to our girls and they remain in school and the other one is promoting Karunga women group creating job opportunities for them.   Many families were negatively affected by the pandemic and in some families bread winners lost their source of income worsening the situation and especially in the vulnerable households leaving the parents with very little to offer to their children.  We have continuously worked with Karunga women group as we have been purchasing reusable sanitary towels from them.  The women in the group have lost their source of income as a result of the pandemic and following the restrictions by the ministry of health the group put on hold monthly meetings, working in the workshop etc.  The market for their products was affected as well resulting to reduced income.  The pandemic is still there and people are learning to cope with the situation and working out on alternatives to earn income and provide basic needs to their families.  Karunga women group recognizes Necofa as their reliable customers for the reusable sanitary towels and whenever we take long without placing orders, they never get tired of calling us requesting us place orders for their products.  On our end it has not been obvious to place order with them not because we don’t want their products but due to limited resources.  The number of beneficiaries is growing day by day unfortunately we have not been in a position to accommodate the high demand for the reusable sanitary towels.  Our concern to our girls is great and we find ways of supporting the most vulnerable girls with sanitary towels.  Thank you for your generosity which has enabled us address some of the most needed support.  Girls are dropping out of school due to pregnancies and early marriages as a result of vulnerability.  We have tried to save the situation but still there is much to be done.  Trainings on sexuality have been conducted in Baringo County where the cases of dropping out of schools have been increasing.  The government is not doing much on this and parents are left very desperate.  Together with our partners Mundo Possible from Spain, we have been conducting trainings to students and parents on sexuality and reproduction health and there is need to do more to reduce cases of girls dropping out of schools.   To achieve our goals towards this we welcome our friends and well-wishers to consider making contributions to our project.  We appreciate all support given before and we don’t take it for granted, thank you very much.

It is always a big blow to me whenever a young school girl in primary school or secondary school drop out as a result of pregnancy. Just this morning I received a phone call from a teacher in forming me that a primary school girl has dropped out due to pregnancy.  To me this is really painful as this means that the lifestyle of that school girl has changed when she is still very young.  She becomes a young mother adding more responsibilities to her struggling parents.  It is high time that we sit with our girls to empower them even more as people and especially grown up men are taking advantage of these young girls.  Lack of sanitary towels is one of the reasons that girls’ fall into men’s traps once they are promised some money and in the process they are sexually used and later damped and especially when they become pregnant. 

In our small ways, we have been reaching girls in remote areas to educate them and sensitize them on various topics and distributing reusable sanitary towels to save them from early pregnancies and early marriages.  Since schools opened in January we have supported over 100 girls with reusable sanitary towels in Baringo Kachiuru and Nakuru.  The government of Kenya has been distributing disposable sanitary towels in some schools but still the gap has been widening up as we have so many girls who are not benefitting.  Thanks to the well-wisher of this project as we are reaching more girls through your generous support.  Thank you for supporting our girls.  We intend to reach more girls this term as well distributing more sanitary towels and creating more awareness on sex education.  To reach more girls and provide more sanitary towels, we call upon our friends, donors and well-wishers to chip in and save our young girls from the abuse and shame they go through due to lack on the sanitary towels.  Thank you for your support and helping our girls, together we can help and support even more.