“ Some of my friends have even ended up pregnant just because they could not afford pads.” -An US4HER girl.
Us4Her Official Launch
After months and months of long days and sleepless nights, intricate planning, logistics and a whole lot of grace, The Us4Her Foundation was finally launched.
Us4Her is a foundation that advocates for menstruation awareness and seeks to empower and educate women and young girls in our communities about menstrual & reproductive health.
The foundation additionally sustainably supports women and girls with menstrual products on a monthly basis. To this effect, Us4Her as an organisation has entered into partnerships with different brands like Zana Africa. These partnerships are strategic and help the foundation achieve its goals.
Our Menstrual Packages:
This project started two years ago with the onset of the Corona Virus pandemic came the sudden closure of schools in March 2020. For millions of girls in slums and rural areas in Kenya, this meant a loss on two fronts; first, the pandemic denied them access to education and secondly, they would no longer be beneficiaries of the government drive to supply school-going girls with free sanitary towels.
The Kenyan government, through the State Department for Gender Affairs, runs a programme that provides free sanitary towels to some 3.7 million girls in public primary schools and special primary and secondary schools in the country.
The Us4Her Foundation:
In Kenya, there are motorcycle taxis called Boda Bodas. Poverty often pushes girls in generally underprivileged communities like the ones we serve to engage in sexual activities with the Boda Boda operators who in exchange for sexual favours, buy the sanitary pads on behalf of the girls.
Seeing as most Boda Boda operators are male, this activity ends up being a clear picture of the perpetuation of a patriarchal cycle of reliance and exploitation. We believe that this cycle can be broken when and only when men are also actively involved in the menstrual & reproductive health discussion.
It is our belief that a world without period poverty means that girls and women can actively and sustainably contribute to economic growth in a more significant way consequently reducing global poverty.
Distributing menstrual packages to girls during one of the Us4Her pad drives
Over the past 2 years, we have donated sanitary towels and other hygiene products to over 5,000 girls and 1,000 teen mothers in the informal settlements in Nairobi specifically Kibra and Majengo. We understand the importance of menstruation in a woman’s life and that periods are a natural part of life and without them literally, none of us would be here.
As an organisation, we believe that everyone needs to be part of the conversation. People of all sexual orientations and gender preferences are all equally affected by the lack of sufficient implementation of the existing policies on menstrual & reproductive health. We all need to learn that periods are not something to be ashamed of or hidden.
Growing up, all through our formative years and through primary school, we were told that menstruation is dirty and filthy and this narrative led to the bringing up of a generation that shuns menstruation as a thing to be hidden and not appreciated for the natural, normal activity that it is. There are communities and religions that as we speak, still consider menstruation dirty.
I had an opportunity to do a presentation on who Us4Her is, and what we have done and outlined in further detail what the foundation aims to achieve in the coming years.
Our goal is to help as many girls as we can and touch as many lives as we can in whatever ways we can. More importantly, we are squarely focused on creating awareness and facilitating the education of the masses on what menstrual and sexual reproductive health actually is.
We project a society and subsequently a world where all girls are equal on matters of menstrual health and hygiene and access to the products that they need at that time. A world where a young girl can walk into a store and find subsidised or better yet free access to hygiene products and carry them proudly out of there without worrying about being judged or making other people uncomfortable with her activity.
During a work trip around the country documenting a project, I learned that millions of girls are still experiencing period shaming both at home and in schools. It’s sad to know that the same institutions that have been trusted to educate and help raise awareness on menstruation are the same ones shaming women.
One of the few ladies I interviewed told me some of her friends have even ended up pregnant just because they could not afford pads and that they had to be married off. Families in rural areas and informal settlements in our cities are already struggling to try to keep a roof over everyone’s head and food in their stomachs as well as get themselves educated.
It is unfair and uncalled for that they also have to worry about how their wives, daughters and mothers will survive when the time of the month comes.
The D-Day Of The Launch.
We invited some of the Us4Her girls to come and experience what life is like outside the environment they live.
This was a testament to the fact that the older generation is failing at educating the younger people about menstruation and this is no fault of their own because they were similarly brought up in a society that all but appreciated their womanhood.
Our Mentorship sessions
We have mentorship program sessions that seek to support and educate them on several topics like hygiene, reproductive rights, menstrual health and general life skills.
The most interesting thing is how the girls gelled with the crowd, made friends and met mentors who are going to walk them through life and help them discover their potential, and support and see them evolve into the powerful women that they are meant to be.
Lessons I have learnt.
1. I have mostly unlearned and learnt a lot in this journey most of this information I thought I knew but it turns out that I don’t. It is a whole learning process even as the team seeks to be impactful in society.
2. I have learnt the importance of teamwork, being patient, listening and asking for clarity where it is unclear and uncertain.
4. I have learnt the ups and downs of being a leader and how to manage my team in a more friendly but authoritative manner.
5. The journey ahead is hard but I am determined to do my best and super excited and proud to be part of the change.
You can also support the foundation and be part of the change, by donating any amount/sanitary towels to help make the process more meaningful and fun.
Our Mchanga Donation Details:
Paybill: 8913000
Account: 42898
Or Mpesa: 0790861410
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