Giving vulnerable girls real help!
Donation protected
Jenipher is giving young Kenyan girls a fair chance and a good start to life. She is teaching them about their bodies, their human rights and how to manage their personal needs safely. Simply doing this has HUGE impacts that make a significant difference to their lives.
Please join me in generously helping this amazing, compassionate and committed woman, Jenipher Nyangah , a local mother, activist, dress-maker and permaculturalist, to help vulnerable girls in the villages of her region of Kenya, and beyond. Jenipher has a big dream in her back pocket.
THE PROBLEM
Did you know that one million girls in Kenya miss school, even from primary school because they don't have the means to manage their period - they don’t have sanitary pads.
Some girls lose 20% of their education! This has a huge impact on the girls’ futures.
We take it for granted!
When you have your period, you simply go and buy pads, tampons, a set of reusable pads or a cup.
But, what if you couldn’t? What would your life be like? What would you do when you had your period?
Even though the Kenyan government has scrapped taxes on sanitary products, 65% of women and girls sill can’t afford them.
Some girls even sell themselves to buy pads!
They risk life-changing violations to their human rights for this basic product - early pregnancy, HIV, violence....
As a result, around 60% of Kenyan girls drop out of secondary school.
Teaching Feminine Hygiene and Personal Respect
There are so many orphans who have no-one to teach them basic feminine hygiene, about sexually transmitted disease, or that they should report rape.
Without this education, the girls are at higher risk of abuse and violence, STDs and unwanted teenage pregnancies.
There is a new government goal to provide girls with cheaper pads, but still so many are missing out.
On the other side of this too, the proliferation of disposable sanitary pads is also creating a huge waste issue in places without waste services.
Most Kenyan adolescent girls are not educated about how to make healthy, informed decisions about their bodies and lives, or have the means to manage basic things like their periods safely or reliably.
THE SOLUTION
When Jenipher realised the desperate needs of young women in her village she had to act.
She is making and providing free washable pad kits to girls in schools and providing them with the information they need about personal hygiene and their bodies.
She could not stand by. It is her passion, her calling, to educate vulnerable girls in her local community about personal hygiene and providing them with free panties and washable sanitary towels.
She has been designing and hand-making beautiful and durable kits for girls and going to schools to deliver them personally with a class about health too.
Jenipher currently receives NO FUNDING to do this - she simply cares enough to make a difference. She does it from her verandah at home. She volunteers her time and her resources.
Jenipher says this is part of the Days for Girls Project.
What Jenipher does…
- she collects offcuts fabrics from her fellow dress-makers
- makes personal kits for the girls - bag, pants, pad-holders, pads, soap
- Organises a Day For Girls event at a school and donates the kits to the schoolgirls
- At the Day, she teaches vulnerable primary girls (aged 10-16) about personal hygiene, how to use the pads, and how to respect their bodies
This is a small scale, independent project by a local woman, helping local girls using local waste materials. This is a permaculture approach to personal hygiene - a people care project that needs our support.
HOW YOU CAN HELP JENIPHER HELP MORE GIRLS
Jenipher will teach other women how to make the sanitary kits and how to teach the girls. She will happily do this for free.
The more this spreads, the more girls can be helped.
But Jenipher does need funds to buy more machines and resources. She told me she needs at least:
- 3 more treadle sewing machines
- 3 more snap-pressing machines
- a lot more fabric, cord, underpants, clips and soap.
- resources to travel and teach the girls, and to teach other women
A ripple effect starts with one small act of kindness.
Jenipher's compassion is changing the lives of young women, but also teaching women how to sew which they can use to create a livelihood with their machines - to make school uniforms, women’s dresses, children’s clothing…
PLEASE DONATE GENEROUSLY. ALL FUNDS TO DIRECTLY TO THE COMMUNITY
To make this Days for Girls Project a success and to help hundreds of girls, I am aiming to raise AUD2500 to send to Jenipher.
I am creating this crowdfunding campaign because I want to support Jenipher and the many young girls in Kenyan villages who have a right to an education, who deserve basic sanitation products to care for themselves well.
Jenipher is also planning to help the development of a permaculture education centre ....but that is another story!!
Please donate generously and help girls get an education and reach their potential without having to compromise themselves to do so.
Please join me in generously helping this amazing, compassionate and committed woman, Jenipher Nyangah , a local mother, activist, dress-maker and permaculturalist, to help vulnerable girls in the villages of her region of Kenya, and beyond. Jenipher has a big dream in her back pocket.
THE PROBLEM
Did you know that one million girls in Kenya miss school, even from primary school because they don't have the means to manage their period - they don’t have sanitary pads.
Some girls lose 20% of their education! This has a huge impact on the girls’ futures.
We take it for granted!
When you have your period, you simply go and buy pads, tampons, a set of reusable pads or a cup.
But, what if you couldn’t? What would your life be like? What would you do when you had your period?
Even though the Kenyan government has scrapped taxes on sanitary products, 65% of women and girls sill can’t afford them.
Some girls even sell themselves to buy pads!
They risk life-changing violations to their human rights for this basic product - early pregnancy, HIV, violence....
As a result, around 60% of Kenyan girls drop out of secondary school.
Teaching Feminine Hygiene and Personal Respect
There are so many orphans who have no-one to teach them basic feminine hygiene, about sexually transmitted disease, or that they should report rape.
Without this education, the girls are at higher risk of abuse and violence, STDs and unwanted teenage pregnancies.
There is a new government goal to provide girls with cheaper pads, but still so many are missing out.
On the other side of this too, the proliferation of disposable sanitary pads is also creating a huge waste issue in places without waste services.
Most Kenyan adolescent girls are not educated about how to make healthy, informed decisions about their bodies and lives, or have the means to manage basic things like their periods safely or reliably.
THE SOLUTION
When Jenipher realised the desperate needs of young women in her village she had to act.
She is making and providing free washable pad kits to girls in schools and providing them with the information they need about personal hygiene and their bodies.
She could not stand by. It is her passion, her calling, to educate vulnerable girls in her local community about personal hygiene and providing them with free panties and washable sanitary towels.
She has been designing and hand-making beautiful and durable kits for girls and going to schools to deliver them personally with a class about health too.
Jenipher currently receives NO FUNDING to do this - she simply cares enough to make a difference. She does it from her verandah at home. She volunteers her time and her resources.
Jenipher says this is part of the Days for Girls Project.
What Jenipher does…
- she collects offcuts fabrics from her fellow dress-makers
- makes personal kits for the girls - bag, pants, pad-holders, pads, soap
- Organises a Day For Girls event at a school and donates the kits to the schoolgirls
- At the Day, she teaches vulnerable primary girls (aged 10-16) about personal hygiene, how to use the pads, and how to respect their bodies
This is a small scale, independent project by a local woman, helping local girls using local waste materials. This is a permaculture approach to personal hygiene - a people care project that needs our support.
HOW YOU CAN HELP JENIPHER HELP MORE GIRLS
Jenipher will teach other women how to make the sanitary kits and how to teach the girls. She will happily do this for free.
The more this spreads, the more girls can be helped.
But Jenipher does need funds to buy more machines and resources. She told me she needs at least:
- 3 more treadle sewing machines
- 3 more snap-pressing machines
- a lot more fabric, cord, underpants, clips and soap.
- resources to travel and teach the girls, and to teach other women
A ripple effect starts with one small act of kindness.
Jenipher's compassion is changing the lives of young women, but also teaching women how to sew which they can use to create a livelihood with their machines - to make school uniforms, women’s dresses, children’s clothing…
PLEASE DONATE GENEROUSLY. ALL FUNDS TO DIRECTLY TO THE COMMUNITY
To make this Days for Girls Project a success and to help hundreds of girls, I am aiming to raise AUD2500 to send to Jenipher.
I am creating this crowdfunding campaign because I want to support Jenipher and the many young girls in Kenyan villages who have a right to an education, who deserve basic sanitation products to care for themselves well.
Jenipher is also planning to help the development of a permaculture education centre ....but that is another story!!
Please donate generously and help girls get an education and reach their potential without having to compromise themselves to do so.
Organizer
Morag Gamble
Organizer
