When it Takes 90 Shillings Only to Help a Girl Stay in School

Many girls in Kenya from poor backgrounds tend to lack access to the most basic need during their puberty stage; sanitary towels. It is even more devastating that this happens to be the same period when the girls are in school and in the process of working towards making their dreams come true.

Menstruation cannot be avoided by any girl. This is a stage that every one of them has to pass through for every month from the time they hit puberty. It is so saddening to note that majority of poor Kenyan girls who are not able to afford sanitary towels resort to unhygienic and unsafe solution like the use of rags.

Some end up engaging in acts like transactional sex or get sexually exploited so as to get some money to enable the buy sanitary towels. Others miss school on such days, which might be between three to seven days a week every month. It is important to note that any girl child who lacks access to menstrual products faces both emotional and psychological stress.

A girl who is out of school for four days in 28 days (month) loses 13 learning days’ equivalent to two weeks of learning in every school term. In an academic year (nine months) a girl loses 39 learning days’ equivalent to six weeks of learning time. A girl in primary school between grades 6 and 8 (three years) loses 18 learning weeks out of 108 weeks. Within the four years of high school a girl can lose 156 learning days’ equivalent to almost 24 weeks out of 144 weeks of learning in high school.

Any teacher would tell you that a girl without access to sanitary towels feels embarrassed, unhygienic and uncomfortable, she also loses self-esteem and with that the confidence to interact with her classmates or with teachers in the classroom. This deliberate absenteeism is mainly as a result of lack of financial resources to afford the cost of conventional sanitary towels available in the market.

This is why Chalan Foundation, a Women-led International Non-Governmental Organization, has stepped in to ensure that no girl stays out of school due to lack of sanitary pads. The organization is urging the public to help the raise funds that will be used to purchase these toiletries for girls who come from poor backgrounds.

What one needs to do is to send as little as 90 shillings to the Paybill number 566691, with the Account name: Chalan. Apart from donating cash, one can as well drop packets of sanitary towels to any of Chalan Foundation offices.

Related: Gender Parity in Girl Child Education in Kenya Narrows