Educating a Game Changer
Some abilities may look like a natural in life and we can do them without difficulties. This makes most people feel like all humans should have these abilities.
Take standing in front of a crowd and just introducing yourself, for example. Easy task, right from when you are a kid, you should be able to do that for sure. But, given that such abilities need to be practiced and nurtured, they are definitely not a natural to everyone.
Most of us acquired skills like public speaking through the school system. It means that, the system instilled such skills as part of learning. Then, there is the part where it was nurtured through encouragement, support and exposure. And this was mainly through the larger community including family and the social systems that we lived through.
In December, when I interacted with two groups of girls in my rural community, I realized how difficult it was for them to stand before one another and just say a word about themselves. Even answering questions, especially about their lives was a difficult task.
It was evident that, their self awareness and life skills are not well taught and nurtured both in school and community. Most of them expressed concerns of being expected to be silent therefore getting the impression that self expression in public is wrong.
Most rural communities in my context still segregate boys and girls in their upbringing . Yet, they all attend school and access equal education. But girls don’t benefit much from education the way boys do. Parents would give a boy the opportunity to further his studies if resources are scarce and leave out a girl. This notwithstanding that, the girl would do well if not even better than the boy in studies.
A study In Kenya found that 95 percent of menstruating girls missed one to three school days, 70 percent reported a negative impact on their grades, and more than 50 percent stated falling behind in school because of menstruation (Mucherah and Thomas 2017). This is evidence enough to how, girls are not prioritized even for basic necessities that are crucial for them to pursue their education .
During the events in December, we managed, through support from friends to raise funds for purchase of menstrual hygiene supplies, to distribute sanitary towels to 120 girls. This was to just a little support for their one month holiday and the first month in school .
Going forward, we hope to continue with our fundraising efforts, to help the girls have constant supply of sanitary hygiene products during their school year and also conduct holiday camps for skills and awareness creation.
Some of these girls are already out of school but they are facing difficulties navigating life due to lack of family and community support. A number of them are already young mothers and without life and employability skills. We also hope to create impactful activities for them to acquire entrepreneurship skills especially digital literacy.
“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” ~Nelson Mandela
These girls’ and many others worlds will be changed through the support they get from the community and well-wishers to continue thriving and pursuing their education without obstacles.
