Wednesday, 25 March 2015

Free sanitary towels to keep girls in school

By Yusra Mohammed

Over 500 school girls in Kwale County have benefited from a full year sponsorship of sanitary towel from Kwale Welfare
Education Association (KWEA) a community based organization and One Heart in Time organization.
The program was officially launched in this month of November at Golini primary School in Kwale and targeting class seven girls expected to sit for their KCPE exams next year. The girls according to chairman of
the organization (KWEA) Mohamed Mwachausa said that they got full year sponsorship of the sanitary towels as a way of improving girl child education in the county.
He said most of the time many girls fail in their exams because a lot of time is wasted at home during their menstruation
period due to lack of sanitary towels. “Those girls expected to be in class eight next year are our target and we want to ensure they don’t miss classes at all and therefore everyone will have full sanitary towels for the whole year until they are done with their final exam,’ said Mwachausa. Speaking at Golini primary school when they officially launched the exercise Mwachausa said that they will use
all means to uplift the education standards of girl child and boys in the area. Primary Schools that benefited
from the sponsorship program of sanitary towels are Golini, Mwache, MenzMwenye, Milalani and Muhaka
among others.

 “We want to get in the map of Kenya on education and now we have started the journey. Poverty is not a reason for someone to fail in education and therefore we encourage all children to take seriously their studies,’ he said. He said they also sponsor three
mock exams for class eight candidates in each term to prepare them to sit for their examination without panic. Mwachausa said that they target to
sponsor all class eight candidates in the region once they get more well wishers to assist them.
Mwanakombo Abdallah a pupil
who during the event lauded the organization for coming in to assist them expressing confidence that the sponsorship
will help them stay in school all the time even during their periods. “It is true we waste a lot of time at home because we feel embarrassed during that period but since now sanitary towels are here for us we promise good results next year because our time will be fully dedicated to studies,” she said.
Mwanakombo narrated that the organization has helped in curbing the situation of early pregnancies among the school girls as many of them are forced to enter in a relationship with men who will buy them sanitary towel and soaps as many of them are too shy to ask from their parents and also some of the parents are not able to afford due to poverty.
Golini primary school girls in Matuga receiving 
sanitary towels from KWEA, 4th left Kwale county Governor
 Salim Mvurya. Photo By Yusra Mohammed

“Most of my fellow girls are too shy to ask their parents especially their father for sanitary towel so most of the time they don’t attend classes and this force most of the girls to enter in relationship with old men who will give them support by buying sanitary towel and soaps,” said Mwanakombo.Governor Salim Mvurya and his deputy Fatuma Achani who attended the function assured residents of their commitment in ensuring education standards are moved to another level in the area.
“Parents play your part as well as children and we are playing ours, bursaries are there no any child should remainhome because there is no money,” said Achani.
Governor Mvurya said that the time has come for Kwale to perform well and there is no any other option apart from improving education performance. “Our children are not in school for experiment purpose they are there to perform well and therefore everyone should work hard towards improving our grades,” he said.
Kwale county director of education Juma Mwatenga urged parents to encourage their children to aim higher and especially go to university level.“Without having university studies there is nowhere we will be moving to
and so let us work together and help our children,” he said

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