Life-Changing Mentorship for Tanzanian Girls

This past July, I traveled to Tanzania with my family, taking my two young daughters to Tanzania – a place that remains so special and dear to me – for the very first time. We visited a Kisa Project class at Harambee Secondary School, just outside of the town of Moshi. Kisa classes are taught to girls in their final two years of secondary school, so this was a class of girls who I would imagine were roughly 15-19 years old. 

 

My parents, my two daughters and I joined the class, along with two mentors from the GLAMI team. We were each invited to sit next to scholars in various parts of the classroom, all of whom greeted us with big smiles. As the class got started, we quickly realized that the topic for this particular Kisa lesson was “the menstrual cycle.” We were somewhat surprised that this was a topic the team was comfortable teaching in front of visitors, and that the class would be comfortable discussing menstruation in front of us. My dad quietly asked one of the mentors if he should step out of the classroom, and she looked at him with surprise, essentially responding: “oh no, definitely not!”  We were deeply impressed as we realized that this was a topic that the mentors felt fully comfortable presenting and discussing – even in front of men – and even in front of visitors.

My daughters loved meeting Kisa Scholars!

The lesson was delivered with total mastery. The mentor spent the first half of the two hour class ensuring the scholars understood the biology of the menstrual cycle. She started the class by asking how many scholars in the room had parents who discussed menstruation with them. A very small number of the two dozen scholars in the room raised their hands. As the scholars asked questions along the way, it became clear how deeply they valued someone taking the time to explain this topic in a caring and nuanced way. As a nurse, my mom was blown away by the quality of instruction by the mentor.

 

The lesson became even more powerful when the mentor started connecting the biological aspects of the lesson with practical aspects of the scholars’ lives. She spent time talking through the various products scholars could use to manage their cycle, speaking to the benefits and challenges associated with pads, tampons, and cups. She discussed how scholars might dispose of these sanitary products in a school setting, where there aren’t typically obvious or private ways to do so. And she connected all of this to the circumstances in which scholars may become pregnant. Everything she shared was communicated in a matter-of-fact, non-judgmental way, equipping the scholars with the critical information they needed to show up at school on a daily basis — and to stay in school. Menstruation is something that so often prevents girls from going to school, and early or unwanted pregnancy is something that almost always ends a girl’s educational career.

 

The result was powerful. Scholars’ hands went up like popcorn. Everyone had a question to ask, as this type of frank and caring conversation with an adult was likely rare for most of the girls in the room. And they had no qualms about asking their honest questions in front of a group of visitors. 

This experience made clear to me the power of the curriculum-driven mentoring programs GLAMI delivers. The combination of instruction on some of the topics most important to these girls’ lives (topics they are most often not typically taught by others) along with caring and trusted mentorship is powerful. They are given the knowledge they need to take control over their own educational and professional futures (to “write their own stories,” which is the meaning of “kisa” in Swahili). And they have someone they trust in their lives, encouraging them and supporting them through the inevitable ups and downs of life as a teenage girl in Tanzania. 

I returned home more inspired than ever by the quality with which the GLAMI team is delivering its mentoring curricula, the caring with Kisa Project which mentors are supporting girls in their individual needs, and the scale at which they are doing all of this: 10,000 Kisa Project and Binti Shupavu scholars and growing every year!

My family with the entire class of Kisa Scholars.