Brooks
Thanks to the magnanimous efforts of those who
gave financially and physically to the pads for girls project, three
enormous suitcases maxing out at the limit of 50 pounds each and filled
with 50 washable sanitary pad kits somehow miraculously arrived in the
tiny western village of Bikeke last week. And, today over one hundred
women and girls at Liberty School would tell you that God sees them and
knows exactly what they need on a very basic level. This is a miracle
for them! Just look at these smiles!!!
Without the pads, these two girls and all the others needing them
would not be able to attend school for at least one week this month.
Because of this gift, they won’t miss a second of class due to having
their periods. These kids are poor, very poor. Many of them would not be
in school at all if Liberty School had not been established in their
midst offering an education to those unable to pay school fees or buy
the required shoes and uniforms to attend public school. Imagine you own
literally nothing, then to be given something so personal, so needed
and yet so basic.
BUT, I had no idea the undertaking to bring these washable pads to
the girls. Basic hygiene is not known. Why? Soap is expensive; water is
scarce. Boarders share one bucket. Sometimes the borehole runs dry.
Clothes are rarely washed because what will you wear while they dry and
if you have seconds, there is no clothesline, no pins. Space is limited.
Bushes are used to dry what you have and no teenage girl wants to hang
their underwear or worse, washable pads, where others can see them.
Understanding the importance of hygiene and female anatomy and what
is happening in a girl’s menstrual cycle is new information for most of
these students. I had my work cut out for me. Assumptions are pointless
and starting somewhere that your audience is not was never more clear to
me! So, we began…the long, slow, but important process…
First I met with a British friend familiar with my project to
understand the limitations of village life. This was my first awareness
of how severe the situation is and the needs being far greater than just
delivering the 150 kits!
Then, I met with the Director to start to educate him as to what was
required logistically from a hygienic perspective. For girls to be able
to wash their pads, to hang their pads in the sun to make sure that they
were getting dry and bacteria free was imperative if the project would
be successful and last for the girls for the expected three years. This
would require enlarging the girl boarding students’ wash room, acquiring
rope for drying pads, soap for washing pads and raising the sheet metal
walls to ensure privacy.
The girls’ washroom for bathing as it was two days ago.
Once again I am so grateful that this won’t be a problem for this
project, thanks to all of you who gave financially for it. We have been
able to purchase iron sheeting, buckets for each of the 40 girls living
on site, soap for washing themselves and the pads, clothelines,
clothespins, wood for construction. To be able to do this to make sure
this project is successful is such a HUGE gift. Thank you for providing
for this so there were no obstacles to moving forward.
The new and much improved washroom:
even with cement flooring!
Each girl now has her own bucket for washing. Also huge plastic
barrels were purchased for water storage, so now regardless of the water
level, there will always be water.
Then, I met with Naomi, the Director’s wife, the Director’s
secretary, and one of the high school teachers and one of the primary
teachers. To get them on board with the project was easy enough. Without
their support and oversight for the girls, it would definitely be
problematic. Even teaching some of them about the four stages of their
cycles was new information and the necessity and importance of basic
hygiene for themselves, their families and the girls.
Then, I met with most of the female teachers in the school and did
the same. Again, the questions, the comments, the interest and ease with
which they engaged on the subjects was phenomenal. Typically reserved
and shy with a mzungu, this is a subject that really interested them,
especially as I assured them it is shared by every woman on planet
earth!
Happy, happy teachers!
Then I met with the high school girls.
Then, the boarding students.
There was quite a learning curve with each group, whether it was on
female issues of having your period or pregnancy, or the very fun part
of giving each girl her kit. Demonstrating the use of the kits was
undoubtedly the funniest as trying to use them and what do with them
made some very interesting configurations! The girls LOVED the colors
and fabrics and kept saying, “These are very smart!” This is the highest
compliment for how a woman looks in appearance here in Kenya, so I’m
hopeful they won’t use them for scarves or decorations and use them as
intended instead!!!!
The remaining kits are under lock and key to be distributed to girls
needing them in primary school (grades 1 through 8 by our system) who
are living at home. I have educated three teachers well who will now in
turn educate these girls and their mothers or guardians about the use
and care of the kits. Without this intense process the girls will take
them home and they will either be sold or discarded or seen as taboo.
The VERY hard decision had to be made that only the girls attending
school would be able to receive a kit. There is need for their mothers,
their sisters, even their neighbors to each have one. But, this is
Africa…the needs are endless and great, and I constantly have to remind
myself that we may not be able to save all of the starfish washed up to
shore, but we can at least help this one. And, this one deserves it and
appreciates it so much. The difference in one young girl’s life,
speaking love and worth and her unique specialness to her in such an
intimate way has the potential to change a family, a village, and a
nation. You guys are AWESOME. Your love is profoundly making a
difference. Thank you; thank you!!!
And…asante sana from just a few of the very special girls whose lives you have touched:
Anne
Cynthia
Jackline
Margret, Eunice, Lorine
Elizabeth and Esther
…and a few of the girls from primary class 8
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