Providing reusable menstrual hygiene supplies for girls in rural Kenya allows them to preserve their dignity, stay in school, and pursue their goals without interruption due to menstruation. By supporting menstrual health for these girls, you are helping address a significant and widespread challenge to female education and empowerment.
Girls in rural Kenya have significant challenges associated with their menstruation, including: lack of menstrual hygiene supplies; limited or no access to private locations in which to clean or change their menstrual supplies; and excessive absences from school due to menstruation, just to name a few. Social taboos and expectations surrounding menstruation make it difficult for girls to get the support and materials they need, or even to discuss their challenges openly.
Kenya Keys works with volunteers in many locations to sew reusable sanitary kits that are then distributed to girls throughout the villages of the Taru, Kenya region. Save Our Sisters (SOS), a girl empowerment youth club in Kenya organized by Kenya Keys, oversees the distribution of the kits and provides education regarding menstrual health to girls in the region. In addition, the SOS girls provide assertiveness training and lead discussions to open the dialogue about girls' issues.
Providing girls with reusable menstrual hygiene supplies and education regarding how to use them is the first step to empowering girls to create a better future for themselves and others. The impacts of this menstrual health project include: girls will stay in school and achieve academic goals; they will learn how to become their own advocates; it will open a dialogue about girls' challenges in rural Kenya; and it unlocks the potential each girl has to change her world.
