Sanitary Towels Project to Girls Orphaned by AIDS/Girls in Extreme Poverty & Education Support to Children Infected/Affected by HIV/AIDS - Fountain of Hope Youth Initiative Group - Kiambu, Kenya

Taking Action in the Community

Assess: After serving in the community since 2003, we got closer to many persons who were living with AIDS, we had a concern that, even with our support of foodstuffs and government support of free Anti Retro Viral therapy, many continued to be weak both emotionally & physically. After talking with a number of them we discovered many of them had sleepless night thinking of their children’s education and no matter what they ate, drank or medication they took their psychological problem affected their physical well-being and performance of ARV drugs; hence, no improvement in their health. This was a uniform problem in most of our respondents.
(ii) Sanitary Pads
There was a problem of girls from needy homes dropping out of school and many of them registering poor academic performance. We took ourselves to task by talking to the girls what the problem was and we realized many of them missed school when they had their menses, while some dropped out of school after they had embarrassing incidents in school when the cotton wool or pieces of cloth got soaked and stained their uniform with blood. Upon checking the school registers it was confirmed that many missed up to 30 tuition days or more which contributed to the falling of their grades.

Plan: Our engagement was motivated by our vision, which we summarize in a familiar and true saying that “Education is the Key”; however, this is the key that many kids from poor homes never had. Our vision is to see poor children, especially those affected by HIV/Aids, get quality education and equal opportunity to compete academically and in extracurriculars with other children. The long term result is surety of better future.

After analyzing the problem that hinder needy children from getting education we found several needs intertwined. These are: learning materials, tuition fees and lack of sanitary towels to the needy girls. To achieve our objective we needed then and always have to involve the community in caring for needy children by donating books/uniform etc. which their children don’t use any more and we would donate books/uniforms to needy children. We also had to find shops, supermarkets, corporate and individuals to donate even single packets of sanitary towels.

Act: Because the resources are minimal we started by selecting the neediest children. We embarked on intensive fundraising, we wrote to shops and supermarkets in the community, and churches. To make it easier and ensure the community gives, we encourage the individuals to give even one packet of sanitary towels, books and used uniform in event when one’s children are out of school. The results have been that we collect more sanitary towels because people do not feel the burden like they would if one was giving a lot.

We have in place a committee responsible in execution of education program supported by Owili Project in the Netherlands and some local donations in-kind. We also have a committee responsible for distribution of sanitary pads headed and comprised of young girls and women who understand their problems better. The committee works in collaboration with schools department of counseling which selects beneficiaries and distributes.

Evaluate: Formative Evaluation - Primarily qualitative in nature, the formative evaluation conducted through interviews and open-ended questionnaires. Guardians/parents/teachers & volunteers are/will be asked about the day-to-day operation of the project, are educational needs of orphan & vulnerable children (OVC) met, class attendance/performance checking whether there is improvement or change. The Project Evaluator meets regularly with project staff/volunteers to share findings from the formative evaluation effort. Periodic reports are/will be prepared that identify the major findings of the formative evaluation and how they have been used to improve Project operation.

Summative Evaluation - Primarily quantitative in nature, the summative evaluation begins with the establishment of baseline data at the beginning of the Project (using a random sample of guardians/parents of OVC to assess their basic needs & education needs and changes in performance. Data for the summative evaluation will focus on primary goals of the project and the objectives of each.

Sustain: When everyone is encouraged to give, however small, there was increased community participation and ownership of the project. Our task is to always encourage the community to do something. Instead of keeping books/uniforms, etc. which one’s children are not using, we encourage the community to donate to our initiative and give it out to needy children. We have urged the beneficiaries of today to commit to supporting our initiative tomorrow by donating in-kind, cash or helping actively in fundraising and publicity. Our other task is to continue publicizing our work through word of mouth, public gatherings, brochures, etc. We wish to push for government support as well as corporate organizations and international grants to sustain our valued initiative.