SHARE - the first sewing soiree

It's not every day that you find a group of girls willing to give up a much deserved weekend, especially in summer, to help our someone in need. But that's just what happened this Sunday when 9 girls met up for a sewing bee to make fabric pads for 23 girls in rural Kenya.

This was all to do with Kenya Aid's new program - SHARE - that provides sanitary health and reproductive education to women living in remote villages. A large part of the program is providing school age girls with sanitary products. These products help the girls stay at school and also provide a hygienic and safe alternative to traditional methods used to manage menstruation - such as dried cow dung or shared scraps of cloth - that often lead to infection and disease. By providing girls currently enrolled in school with reusable cloth pads we are able to keep attendance rates stable as well as provide an environmentally friendly and sustainable solution to a very real health problem. 

Our aim was to have 100 pads by December to supply around 23 girls in rural Kenya with 3 pads each, plus a new pair of underwear for each girl. Thanks to the first group of helpers, who made an amazing 60 pads, we’re well on the way to achieving this goal and even exceeding it, allowing us to make these pads even more widely available to other women in the community.

So I’d like to say a big thanks to our helpers (including our generous host Agnes!), an outstanding group of young women who all got together to give a little of their time to help some girls they’ve never even met. It’s a joy to see that the spirit of giving, empathy and compassion are still alive and kicking, and on behalf of the girls at Musango secondary school – Asante sana!

Find us on Facebook

To all Kenya Aid supporters - if you're on Facebook please find us and help us spread the word about the great work Kenya Aid does!

You can join the Kenya Aid group (login to your Facebook page and search 'groups' for Kenya Aid, or click here to become a fan of our most recent community aid program, SHARE. 

Please share the group and the page with as many of your friends as you can to help us raise funds to finish building the clinic and extend our health programs.

SHARE - will you?

Some of you will know about the new program we launched this year - SHARE - which is all about providing sanitary health and reproductive education to girls and women in rural areas. Underpinning this program is a major initiative that enables girls aged 13-24 to complete their secondary education - this is The SHARE Project and we really need your help.

Basically, the idea behind The SHARE Project came from a group of girls attending the school who asked us to provide feminine hygiene products to them so that they could stay in school. Unfortunately, when the girls reached puberty they often left school as they did not have access to these items and were forced to stay at home. Some soldiered on using the traditional method of dried cow dung as protection, or shared an old scrap of cloth between them. These solutions were not only imperfect but also caused a rise in fungal and other infections amongst the girls.

After much research we finally found an environmentally viable, economically sustainable and culturally sensitive solution - specially designed reusable cloth pads. Each girl gets 3-4 pads which last at least a year, plus attend free health seminars either at the local clinic (which we are currently building - go to www.kenyaaid.org to see photos) or their school.

So - we need 100 pads by December to roll out the launch of The SHARE Project at a small school in Shikunga, Western Kenya called Musango Secondary School. The girls that attend this school are the poorest of the poor - most have lost their parents, are caring for younger siblings, and many are at high risk of violence, HIV, or extended poverty if they do not complete their education.

To help these girls we need your help. For $20 you can give 3 girls dignity, access to heath education and care, plus the ability to complete their basic education. It's not a large amount but the difference it makes to these girls is huge. We understand that not everyone can donate, but please, share this page, or pass the message on to as many people as you can as spreading the word really helps!

You can donate online via our registered charity secure payment page at http://www.kenyaaid.org/donate.php or please feel free to contact me (ph: 0410 422 512 or e-mail - info@kenyaaid.org) for more information.

Thank you for your support!