Fieldwork in Ganze - Free primary education not enough to keep girls in school

Last Wednesday (June 18^th), I left Mombasa bright and early at 7:00 along with two of my fellow colleagues – Lilian and Omondi - on a matatu for Ganze; a beautiful rural location in Kilifi county (north of Mombasa county). The aim of our visit was to identify stakeholders and conduct a needs assessment for Eco Ethics’ upcoming project: Ganze Re-usable Sanitary Towels (GRST). We are looking to implement it in the first week of July.    

The GRST project seeks to empower women and girls through raising awareness on the importance of reproductive health and menstrual hygiene management. We will be carrying out a series of training sessions/ workshops where we will be teaching the young girls and women on how to sew their very own reusable sanitary towel that can be reutilized for up to 4 months as well as the proper way to wash and dry these towels.

A sneak peak at the guide that I'm working on to be used in the training workshops

Once arrived in Ganze, my colleagues and I headed straight for the Chiefs office. I asked them why this was necessary, they replied that it was custom to go visit, get acquainted and introduced to the local authorities of the location where you want to implement your project. It was also an efficient way of getting statistics about the area that otherwise cannot be found just by browsing the web. Additionally it’s a way of letting them know that “we are locals, you know, these small communities are suspicious of outsiders coming to do development projects”.

The Senior Chief – Mr Anderson Kahindi - was a very friendly man who shared a lot of information with us. We found out that Ganze has a population of precisely 12,662, 8 primary schools, but only 3 secondary schools showing just how few children advance to secondary school. Mr. Kahindi told us that the main economic activity in the area is mostly agriculture and the location records a staggering 87% poverty level due to the fact that rainfall is scarce and the soil is not well suited for farming activities. Before serving as a chief, Mr Kahindi used to be a headmaster for 12 years and was therefore very glad to hear about the Sanitary Towels Project as “[the girls] really need it”. ‘It’ refers to not only the sanitary towels, but also awareness of basic reproductive health and sex education. He cited early pregnancy as one of the main factors that causes girls to drop out of school, along with poverty, negligence, orphanage and early marriage.

The dry soil in Ganze

One of the big water tanks that is used by the community

The principles from Ganze Primary School, Ganze Girls Secondary School and Kachororoni Primary School listed the same factors almost verbatim. We also met Judith Uchi the Chairlady of Sauti Ya Wanawake a Community Based Organization (CBO) with more than 1000 members. Her CBO advocates women’s and children’s rights and in particular, against early marriages and sexual abuses. Judith informed us that girls are often forced to drop out to support their families, and to do so oftentimes they are either married off (so as to not be a burden on family finances) or turn towards prostitution, and as a result, get pregnant. She said that it was “all very sad” and her CBO has initiated a campaign called ‘Get our girls back to school’ that holds ‘talk sessions’ with girls in various schools regarding sexual education.  Judith plans to make these sessions into monthly talks.

The county newspaper cover for that day

After determining the causes for drop out, we interviewed a lady who was a community based trainer (CBT) called Catherene to find out more about whether menstruation was causing absenteeism in school. Research by UNESCO estimates that 1 in 10 African girls skip school during their period. Catherene said that although it was common for girls to miss 2 or 3 or even 4 days of school due to menstruation, it was rare for them to drop out of school because of that. She did proceed to say that there is a need in the community for better menstrual hygiene and menstrual management. She said that commercial pads that are available are largely unaffordable (and inaccessible in the remote area) so women in this community have always just utilized old rags to manage their periods.

As the CBT was in contact with local community groups she was able to inform us that there are 15 women groups, 1 widows group, 1 young mothers groups and a couple of youth groups (specific number not given) in Ganze. We discussed the possibility of training the leaders of 10 of these groups so that they can then train their respective group members as well as turning it into a possible income generating activity. Catherene was very enthusiastic at the prospect and said that she would have no problem mobilizing the leaders of 10 groups.

During our visit to the last school, Ganze girls secondary, a boarding school for high school girls, the deputy principle Mme. Akwilina said that menstrual management was a very ‘big issue’, not just for the girls but also for the school. A lot of the girls have to visit the infirmary as they suffer from cramps or even faint during class. Furthermore, the school currently has no idea of how to properly dispose of the waste. We asked what they were doing about it and they said that they do a good job of collecting the pads and making sure that the girls do not flush them down the toilets, but have absolutely no clue what to do with them after collection. The deputy principle admitted somewhat hesitantly that they just dig a hole, throw in the trash and burn them. She said that she knew that by burning them, a lot of harmful waste is released into the air, but that that was the only feasible solution. She was supremely excited about the reusable sanitary towels project as she said it would help the school greatly in waste management by decreasing waste as well as becoming more environmentally conscious.  

All in all, it was a very successful visit to the field as everyone we met was open to and excited about the project. It indicates that despite cultural tendencies to stigmatize menstruation - as women in certain communities are told that they cannot attend to cattle or even cook for their families when they are on their periods as it is believed that it will cause the livestock to die and curse the family - people are beginning to realize that menstruation is not a problem in itself, as it is a natural process but it is posing challenges for young girls and women to complete their education.