Keep A Girl In School

Keep A Girl In School

Upendo runs a programme for distribution of sanitary towels in schools to over 2,000 girls who have reached puberty. This exercise was greatly interrupted by the outbreak of covid-19 in March when schools had to close to prevent its spread. Because of this pandemic, girls had to stay at home without getting the supply of the STs as usual. In our bid to cushion these young girls from the dangers of having to find the STs from other sources, we launched a programme to reach out to 2,000 girls in the region we operate in, for behaviour change sessions and create more awareness on the covid-19 guidelines and measures. The organization Field officers created awareness through the Chiefs and the group leaders and for the last 2 weeks, they have been meeting the girls to teach them on making good and healthy choices, how to protect themselves, their future and their dignity. To emphasize these, the Field officers advise them to stay committed to their education, not to go with men but to follow women, no sex before marriage and for them to report any case of harassment/rape to parent or guardian or any authority. During these meetings, we distribute sanitary towels, soap and face mask which are some of the basic things many girls cannot afford. We intend to carry out this programme for 3 months and we hope that it will reduce the risk of many girls not going back to school when schools reopen due to either pregnancy, early marriages or any sexually transmitted diseases and to make it worse HIV/AIDS. It’s our desire that we keep the young girls informed and to continue carrying out a mentorship programme so that they don’t indulge in any dangerous social behaviour that might ruin their lives and their future completely.

We wish to thank Amani UK sponsors for raising funds to address the plight of our young girls.

Leonard – Programme Manager.