Connecting The World To Make A Difference; A Trip to West Pokot COUNTY
Touch a Heart was founded by a group of friends who came together to make a difference in the lives of less fortunate girls who couldn’t afford sanitary towels. It was founded in 2008 and has so far reached out 1,800 girls in various regions in Kenya. Every month, all around the world, there are girls who don’t know what’s happening when they get their menstrual period, who face shame and embarrassment and taboos around the subject, and on top of all that, who don’t have easily available means to absorb the blood.
Why do girls need sanitary pads to stay in school?
There is real difference in rates of school attendance for boys and girls as they move from primary school to secondary school. Rates for girls can be 8 to 10 percent lower than for boys. There are a lot of reasons for this. If there’s a need for help in the home, for example, often a girl maybe held back. Now, if a girl doesn’t have access to sanitary pads or a safe and clean place at school to change them, it becomes another reason to keep her home. She starts missing a few days every month, she falls behind, and she may eventually drop out. In fact, some studies found out that if you provide a girl with underwear and sanitary pads, her chances of staying in school are up to 30 to 50 percent higher.
Keeping girls in school is important to health and development — not only for the girls but for their communities and countries. When girls stay in school, they are less likely to get HIV infection, wages go up, teenage pregnancy rates go down, and the children they have later in life are healthier. You educate a girl and you change the world.
West Pokot Edition
The Rotary Club of Gachie partnered with us for the West Pokot edition and we were able to raise money to reach 103 girls with a year’s supply of sanitary towels, undergarments and health education booklets. We also gave 72 boys undergarments, soap and oral hygiene kits in these 3 schools; Manian Primary school, Kanyalitin Primary School and Chepkono Primary School. All class 8 candidates in the three schools also got a success card.
A team of 14 travelled to West Pokot and was able to offer mentorship to the girls. The mentorship touched on personal hygiene, self-esteem, goal setting, discipline, sexual and reproductive health. The kids were so excited, they welcomed us with song and dance and after the function, they sent us off with more dance while they adorned us with jewellery; this is their cultural way of showing gratitude.
The parents were not left behind; they too expressed their gratitude and made us tea and bread (We shall discuss this wonderful tea some other time 😉).
The event was crowned by heavy rainfall which definitely means blessings in our African culture 😊. The journey back was long and cold, but we came back an excited lot having touched lives.
Next year, we head out to three other regions to impact more girls.
If you’d like to join us, please write to us on onegirlatatime@gmail.com or like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.
We promise you a memorable, fulfilling experience!
By Cate Wachira – Rotary Club of Gachie
