Gender Equality Kenya Project #19653

Educate & Give voice to HODI Girls in North Kenya

by Horn of Africa Development Initiative - HODI

Educate & Give voice to HODI Girls in North Kenya

Project Report | Mar 22, 2021
A new website and more: Our March 2021 update

By Noor Abdulqadir | Project Leader

Participants with balls during a league match

The pandemic in Kenya

Kenya is now in the third wave of the coronavirus pandemic. Over the last two weeks, cases have been rapidly increasing and the total number of cases between March 7 and 20 is 11,801. South Africa, a much larger country and with more testing capability, has 16,595 cases over the same period by comparison.

Schools are open but activities with participants are limited. A presidential directive currently in place prohibits sports activities between participants from different schools.

Our new website

We launched our new website on March 11. The website includes a more detailed look at our programs and fresh pages for our supporters to get involved through volunteering and donations. Please visit our new website at hodiafrica.org.

Compliance

We also recently completed our annual audit and financial statements for the 2020 financial year. On March 15, we filed our annual report to the NGOs Coordination Board as required by Kenyan law. The NGOs Coordination Board is the regulator of the NGO sector in Kenya.

Our projects

In February, we trained 7 people on football drills and child safeguarding. The coaches were trained at our office in Marsabit and safety precautions were taken.

In our shoot to score project, we have continued to train young girls and boys in Marsabit on life skills topics delivered through football drills. Because of the current pandemic situation, participation was restricted to participants from a school only in order to reduce mixing. The drills were delivered by trained coaches and all participants wore masks and observed social distancing. 450 girls and boys are currently participating in these sessions.

76 girls and boys are training and participating in a weekly football league. The league is currently taking place in one location only due to restrictions caused by the pandemic.

Over 100 community members and school pupils have been using radio to learn and get important information about the pandemic and other topics. The radios are solar powered and can be charged.

Towards the end of last year, we distributed sanitary kits containing a reusable menstrual pad along with other basic essentials to 96 girls. We went back this year to ask them about the kits and how they have used them. Many of them have reported that they found the pads easy to use and clean. They are reusable, so they have not had to buy regular pads for the last 3 months.

Working with 93 women in our Qusanno village savings project, we have supported 4 registered groups to file their quarterly reports with the national government. From February 1 to March 22, 2021, these women have saved a total of KES 74,700 between them. Previously issued loans have continued to be repaid, with a total of KES 130,500 repaid during the same period. These loans have mainly been used to support small businesses, providing economic empowerment for women and their households.

In our sport on the cutting edge project, 27 former circumcisers have continued advocating against female genital mutilation. They reached 567 persons in February with messaging about the dangers of FGM, myths and facts about FGM and its illegality in Kenya.

7 girls were directly rescued from FGM through the work of former circumcisers.

29 community leaders met 643 people during community meetings, religious gatherings and home visits. With these people, they discussed the dangers of FGM and encouraged community members to give up the practice.

Thank you

We could not have done all this without your support. We ask you to keep supporting and empowering communities here in northern Kenya.

On behalf of all our communities and everyone on our team, we say a big thank you for your enduring support.

Sessions at schools

Audio learning in Marsabit

Community monthly meeting

Community member collecting water

Links:

Our new website

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Jan 4, 2021
96 girls received sanitary kits

By Noor Abdulqadir | Project Leader

Sep 8, 2020
Educating girls in Marsabit: September 2020 update

By Noor Abdulqadir | Project Leader

General update about where we work

1. Covid19 pandemic in Kenya:

Since our last report in July, we have had an increase of 17,850 cases bringing the total to 34,493. Over the last week, it seems that the numbers are falling and we had 178 cases on September 3, 2020. In total, there have been 581 deaths in Kenya as a result of the pandemic. Schools are still closed until January 2021.

2. Security situation in Marsabit:

Since July 7, 2020, we have only had three confirmed situations with only 2 people wounded. Generally, it is peaceful in Marsabit at this time.

Activity update
We have managed to distribute 48 sanitary kits to girls from vulnerable backgrounds so far. The kits contain one of each of the following items:

Washing and bathing soap
Body lotion
Hair oil
Reusable menstrual pad

We started to distribute the sanitary kits on August 21 and will continue to distribute them. With the donations we have received for this project this year, we have managed to purchase 96 kits. We are left with 48 kits to distribute for now. We will keep purchasing more as donations are received.

Among the items contained in the kit is a reusable pad which helps to cut the costs of sanitary towels for girls from underprivileged backgrounds. The advantages include the ability to use them for upto a year if properly maintained and ease of cleaning. The disadvantages are that they are comparatively expensive and a lack of general knowledge on how to use them as compared to regular disposable pads.

During distribution, we also taught the beneficiaries how to use the reusable pads contained in the kits. This includes how to wear them, how to wash them with clean warm water and soap and how best to dry them once washed. We advised the beneficiaries to ensure the pads are hung in sunlight for proper drying.

Here below are some direct quotes from the parents and guardians of the recipients of the kits:

“May God bless you all, and add more of what you give. Keep on remembering us everywhere”.

“May God give you more than what you give and we are grateful for this little gift and big ones will come soon”.

Here is a direct quote from a girl who received the kit:
“Thank you. This is really going to help me, especially the reusable pad.”

We are currently on the lookout for someone who can train us on how to make the reusable pads at our office in Marsabit. Because we already have the sewing machines and personnel in place, we will be able to significantly bring down the cost of a reusable pad and reach more girls with the sanitary kits.

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