Sanitary Pads Keep Ugandan Girls in School

The Kasiisi Project and the Jane Goodall Institute hosted a Girls Peer Education Workshop in September. The workshop was held at the Makerere University Biological Field Station, located in Kibale National Park in Fort Portal.

The main objectives of the workshop were:

• To introduce girls to peer education.
• To equip girls and teachers with knowledge on reproductive health.
• To equip girls with skills of how to deal with problems associated with the youth.
• To equip female teachers in schools with knowledge on how to relate with the youth.
• To train female teachers and girls groups on how deal with HIV/AIDS.

Because of your support, the Peer Education Workshop was extremely successful! There were over 30 girls from 7 primary schools who attended the workshop. 10 head women teachers from the schools also attended the workshop. The Peer Education Workshop focused on providing young girls and teachers with the skills they need to educate other school children about reproductive health, HIV/AIDS and the use of sanitary pads.

Uganda has the highest teen pregnancy rate in sub-saharan Africa with over 30% of Ugandan girls having their first baby by the time they are 18. HIV infection rates are 9 times higher in girls than boys the same age and Uganda has one of the highest maternal death rates in the world, 25% of which are from unsafe abortions. However, studies have shown that each additional year of education for girls reduces the risk of HIV infection by 7% and delays the first pregnancy by a year!

The Kasiisi Project, through your help, is assisting young girls to stay in school by providing peer education workshops, sanitary pads and extracurricular activities for girls!

Thank you for all you do for the Kasiisi Project and for the girls of Uganda!

Links:

• Kasiis Project new website!

Summer volunteers have arrived at the Kasiisi Project and the GIRLS are getting lots of special attention through new projects, events and workshops! Summer volunteers add an extra bit of excitement for the children touched by the Kasiisi Project - bringing in activities that these children would normally not have access too - like arts and crafts; debate club tournaments with prizes; field trips and more! The volunteers come for approximately two to three months and focus their attention on a specific project or activity with the children. This allows the volunteers and the children time to connect and form long lasting bonds.

The GIRLS sanitary project is continuing to be very successful. The community Nurse Lucy is visiting all of our schools on a regular basis. She hands out the sanitary pads, speaks with girls about any concerns/thoughts/questions they might have and works on basic health education with the girls. Additionally, Nurse Lucy and the Kasiisi Project are continuing to work with the girls and head women teachers from our schools on peer education - training young girls to be role models and mentors for their peers. The peer education is a fun way to get girls informed about health/sanitary issues while encouraging them to be public speakers, role models and teachers to their peers.

The Kasiisi Project's new website at www.kasiisiproject.org has created quite a buzz and we are getting a lot of feedback about the project. It feels good to know that our work in Uganda is truly touching children’s lives on a daily basis and we have you all to THANK for that. SO THANK YOU and happy summer from the Kasiisi Project!

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Links:

• Project Blog
• Project Website