Support 2000 Kenya school girls with reusable pads

The project is progressing on well and we are happy to report that we were able to interview some beneficiaries on their experience with the reusable sanitary towels and the feedback we received was satisfactory the girls said the towels have been very effective as they have them readily available with them and they don’t bother their parents any more to buy the sanitary towels and instead the parents addresses other issues with the money.  They also reported that they don’t miss school any more when they are in their days and that ensures that they are fully concentrating in their studies unlike there before.  They have developed self-esteem and their hygiene status has really improved as a result of the talks they receive during the distribution of the sanitary towels.  Their teachers also had impressing feedback as they said girls’ absenteeism has reduced and their class participation as well as curriculum activities have improved.  Although they had not done any evaluation exams by then, the teachers were confidence that the girls will improve in their school performance.  We will follow up on this in the next school term. 

We are happy to report that we were able to distribute 100 sanitary towels to girls in Ndoinet primary school from grade 4 to grade 8.  They really appreciated and they promised to use them in appropriate way for longer service.  Most of the girls said they have been missing classes during their periods due to lack of sanitary towels and they feel they are not safe with the type of materials they used during their days.  They promised to work hard in class work and be in school when they are on their days as they had confidence with the reusable sanitary towels as discussed during distribution.  We will be making follow ups with the teachers to find out girls’ progress and also get feedback from the beneficiaries.  

On the other hand, Karunga women are happy with the progress and they appreciate the training and skills given.  They have improved in terms of quality and they are now exploring for bigger markets they are visiting schools to talk with the girls and introduce the reusable sanitary towels.  We thank all the well-wishers for supporting this project and we request them and others to continue supporting our girls and women.

The progress with this project is impressing.  The 2 women who went for training in Uganda last year have been training their colleagues on production of quality sanitary towels from the skills they gained during their 2 weeks training.  We are happy that the women are now more interested in production of these sanitary pads thus helping them improve their skills, earn income and as well improve their livelihoods.  On the other hand, the beneficiaries have expressed their satisfactory with the sanitary pads where they say that the pads are comfortable, protective and easy to clean thus giving them more confidence.  We will be conducting monitoring and evaluation in February where we will interview the school girls on their experience with the recyclable pads.  We will also interview their teachers to find out if girls’ class attendance and performance have improved.   The Karunga women have been producing the sanitary pads and they have them ready for marketing and we are preparing to purchase 100 sets from them in February 2018 to be distributed to a school in Ndoinet another rural school in Nakuru County Kuresoi Sub-County where majority of the community are indigenous Ogiek from East Mau.  The community is vulnerable and in remote area where they have little exposure.  We hope to benefit 100 girls with sanitary pads for one school and later distribute more to another school also in the Ndoinet.  We are very happy for this project and we sincerely appreciate the support given by all our well-wishers who have generously contributed to this project.   Thank you all for your generosity as we encourage you to continue supporting our vulnerable girls and women.  We wish you a prosperous year 2018.

We thank God for the successful school term and actually end of the year for our schools despite many challenges in many areas Kachiuru being one of the affected areas.  It was an election year and so life has not been easy for many citizens especially the less privileged, vulnerable and those in very remote areas.  We are happy we managed to have our feeding program in Kachiuru primary school throughout the year.  This has been very successful initiative which attracted many children in the school and maintained them there thus benefiting with the education.  This year Kachiuru has 15 students who will be sitting for their national exams as from 31^st October 2017.  This is good news as the school did not have enough students last year to sit for the exams thus forcing them to be registered in other schools for them to sit for their final national exams.  We wish the 15 students luck in their forth coming exams and we are optimistic that they will perform well and secure vacancies in the best secondary schools.  We are also happy to report that Kachiuru primary will benefit with another classroom which will be constructed during the November/December holiday and in January 2018 the classroom will be ready for use.  The classroom construction has been funded by Wide Awake through our partners Friends of Kenya Schools and Wildlife (FKSW) and we take this opportunity to express our gratitude to everybody who has contributed towards the success of the Kachiuru community.  With the contribution received though global giving community, we have been able to support the most vulnerable students in the Kachiuru primary school and we will continue supporting them and the whole school as we continue fundraising to be able to support all students in the school. We remain optimistic that we will have enough funds to continue supporting the feeding program in the school as well as providing scholarships to the most vulnerable children.  We thank all the well-wishers for their kind support to the Kachiuru community and I encourage them to consider supporting them further.

This project was uploaded on GlobalGiving site in June 2017 and it is the latest project by Necofa.  The project has started very well with well-wishers contributing generously to our project and we really appreciate their kind support.  We have started implementing the project as we have already received funds from GlobalGiving again we thank them for their prompt action.  Am happy to report that with the funds received we managed to purchase a sewing machine for the Karunga Women Group which they used to make 80 sets of reusable sanitary pads.  Two group members attended 2 weeks training in Uganda in August 2017 to improve on their skills in making the pads. 

With the learned skills they are training other group members and we confirm that the quality of the pads was very good.  The sanitary pads were distributed to 80 girls of Timdolel primary school in Mariashoni location, Molo sub-county in Nakuru County.  Mariashoni location is in Mau Forest and the community living there is the minority Ogiek community.  The place is remote and the community has limited access to urban centers.  Pupils in most schools in Mariashoni have not had much exposure to the current world.  We distributed the pads to the girls in the school starting from the fourth grade to eighth grade. 

We had the opportunity to discuss with the girls about adolescent, hygiene, reproduction and their school performance.  They appreciated and promised to work hard in their studies for better future mentioning that they will not be missing school during their periods as it was previously.  On the other hand Karunga women group members appreciated the great support given to them as they were able to make the sanitary pads with a lot of ease.  They hope to continue perfecting their skills to increase their production of the pads which will results in improved livelihood.  On behalf of the Karunga Women Group and Timdolel primary school we express our gratitude to all those who generously contributed to this project for the benefit of our communities.  We request you to continue supporting us as well as sharing the successes and achievements with others. 

Thank you very much and be blessed