Further activities on site
Although COVID paralyzes the country, our local partner KIDEP continues to work tirelessly to give the girls in Kenya a future. Together with another Austrian sponsor “Be so free”, the sanitary situation in the primary schools in Sosio and Nakalira was improved. We remember the pictures from the status report in February: https://moyo-tyrol.org/2020/02/11/moyo-vor-ort-in-afrika/
Thanks to generous donors, the latrines could be modernized (if you can even use this word in this context). As already reported, the sanitary situation in many schools is precarious: many facilities do not even have clean water for washing facilities, and the water often has to be fetched from a distant borehole. This situation is very difficult, especially for girls of puberty. Thanks to the donations, it was possible to buy a new water tank and thus improve the hygienic conditions for girls, especially during their menstrual period (often a taboo subject).
Sophie E. Kibuywa – President of KIDEP reports: “The toilets we have built in the school are not flash toilets because the water is a problem, they are called pit latrines. We normally dig a long hole then divide the holes. Each hole can be used by one child in this case, I have made all of 5 holes meaning five girls can use it at the same time. From experience, this type costs about 1000 Euros to be complete for five pupils to use at one time. We also gave them a water tank that costs Kshs. 35,000 / -. We have to collect the water from the roof. Some of the funds came from the Catholic Men Movement of Austria organized by Mag Franz and Mr. Wolfgang and little money came from a class mate of mine in Canada. These toilets are done by the local skilled men no company is involved.
There was also a workshop with the young schoolgirls on family planning and sexual and reproductive health. Unfortunately, this is still a taboo subject in Kenya. It is important to educate young girls at an early stage. This is the only way to avoid unwanted pregnancies and to keep the girls in the school education that is important for independence.
Sophie E. Kibuywa relates:
“School time table: the children arrive in the school by 7.00 a.m. meaning children leave home at 5.00 am. They then leave school by 4.45 pm. However, all children with examination classes standard Seven, Eight Form Three and Form Four leave school by 6.00 p.m. Some children arrive at home very late depending on the distance they have to walk or use motorcycle transport, if they have money. (Boda boda). These schedule of waking up early and return home in the dark poses a lot of problem to the girl child. This is where they are defiled, have early pregnancy and early marriages. The trainings we did for the school was on reproductive mainly is the knowledge for the girls to understand their bodies and take precautions. We don’t go in for birth control etc. This will also depend on the age of the children, we train them also on human rights, child rights and agro ecology, etc.”
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Asante Sana! Vielen Dank!