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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nGabriella Adut, 21, a fourth year student at the Technical University of\nKenya (TUK) for the last two years has been reaching out to over 2,000 pupils\nin at least five counties; giving them comfort in schools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite the fact that she is not a Kenyan, Ms Adut from the Dinka community\nin South Sudan has been able to achieve what Kenyans who have all the resources\nat their disposal have not been doing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So far, Ms Adut and her team have distributed sanitary pads in schools and\nchildren homes in Kibera slums, Mlolongo, Ruaka and Utawala in Nairobi County.\nOther areas are Naivasha, Nakuru, Narok, Migori and Kisii. They are planning to\nvisit Kakamega, Kisumu and Bungoma counties next month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In an interview yesterday in Kakamega town while mapping out the schools she\nwants to visit next month, Adut said the idea was conceptualized in February\nlast year when they (scouts) were camping in Kibera slums.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Adut said she encountered a young girl aged 11, near the place they were\ncamping having a stained skirt since she had no means of getting sanitary pads\nto use during her menses use to abject poverty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAs a scout, I approached her and she informed me that her parents are\nunemployed and due to poverty, they (parents) prefer buying food with the\nlittle money they have as opposed to buying them (young girls) in the slums\nsanitary pads,\u201d said Adut.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Having been raised lived at Kakuma refugee camp for over 10 years as a\nrefugee, she was really touched with the challenges the girls were going\nthrough and founded a lobby to help in addressing their challenges dubbed \u2018\u2018Her\nFlow My Concern\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She said majority of the affected girls from poor and vulnerable families\nwere dropping out of school or missing lessons during their menses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIf a girl missed three days a month during her menses, with each day\nhaving seven lessons a day, our younger sisters miss at least 252 lessons in a\nyear which in turn affects their performance in class. Over 65 per cent of\nwomen and girls across the country from venerable families don\u2019t have access to\nsanitary pads and tampons,\u201d said Adut.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She said such challenges were the reasons behind young girls in the slums\nbeing forced to engage in sexual relations in exchange of pads so that they can\nbe in school even during their menses, saying the move was a recipe for the\never increasing teenage pregnancies and spread of HIV\/Aids.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhen we aren\u2019t in class and during weekends, we raise funds by\nhawking second hand clothes and fast foods within the university premises,\nforfeit lunch, contributions through WhatsApp groups from fellow students\nthrough and donations from the public,\u201d said Adut.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She said they use the money to buy sanitary pads and innerwear (three\npanties per pupil) and take to the selected schools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Adut said there CBO has not been registered as officers have turned\nthem away many times from the social services department since a South Sudanese\ncitizen started it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe had targeted 300 girls at a school in Narok but we were shocked\nwhen over 1000 lined up to receive sanitary pads. If we can get government help\nand corporates we can reach more girls so that our project can sustain itself\nin future,\u2019 said Stacy Anyango, her partner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Monicah Atieno, the deputy principal of Sindani primary school in Suna\nWest Sub County confirmed that the students came and distributed sanitary\ntowels to all the girls of her school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThey are doing a great job and they need support of everyone. We can\nhelp them through fundraisings and charity donations and help them reach to\nmore girls since the pads they give aren\u2019t enough but they are needed every\ntime,\u201d said Ms Atieno.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ben Mwenda Moses, the deputy headteacher, Ololoipang Primary School in\nNarok South Sub County, said Gabriella and her colleagues brought the sanitary\ntowels to the school and the girls were happy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThese girls are determined and they are doing a good job. They gave\npupils in classes five-eight sanitary towels and even taught them how they are\nused and maintaining their hygiene. As a girl who has been a refugee and\nengaged in charity work needs the help of all Kenyans to reach to many girls,\u201d\nsaid Mr Mwenda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ends <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Nairobi By Andrew Ombuni A university student is putting a smile on the face of school going girls from the slums and vulnerable families by giving them free sanitary towels, tampons and uniforms. Gabriella Adut, 21, a fourth year student at the Technical University of Kenya (TUK) for the last two years has been reaching […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":418,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-417","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-kenya-news"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/horizonnews.co.ke\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/file79etf36nxt13292hj2b.jpg\")
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