Life Skills Education to End Teenage Pregnancy

Dear Friend,Supporter and Cheerleader,

HFAW greatly appreciates your support in ensuring that the Abagusii community is sensitized on the effects of FGM and why they should reject the practice completely. Through your generous giving in the month of January, we were able to reach three schools to create awareness on matters FGM and how its affecting learning in schools. We interacted with Nyamakairo primary school located in Nyamira county and has a population of 345 for both learners and teachers. Female pupils totaled to 185 while the male pupils were 150 and 16 teachers. We effectively delivered our life skills strategies and anti-FGM message. The pupils and teachers  were very receptive. 

First and foremost, we addressed the issue feminine hygiene which proved to be of major concern among the female population as they would miss school for  lack of sanitary towels. This affected the class attendance on a monthly basis for fear of soiling their uniforms and being ridiculed and thus the absenteeism made the girls to fall behind in class performance. We trained them on how to express to them selves to their parents  about their need for sanitary towels.

We then proceeded to the agenda of antifgm advocacy. We made made a participatory conversation covering what FGM means, the root causes of FGM, its effects on the victims and the society and how to respond when forced to undergo the act, how and who to report the perpetrators to for rescue and arrests. The HFAW staff insisted to the learners the importance of seeking help from the law enforcers when their rights are being violated. The learners were advised to speak up when confronted with sexual harassment and avoid being lured with small gifts by the sexual offenders. They were given posters with information on the same to enable them advocate to end FGM in the community.

Both teachers and learners showed much interest in our campaigns and were grateful for the information and requested for more frequent sensitization sessions to allow them to reach more people. The following are direct quotes from participants even though we have not used their real names.

“We are grateful for enlightening us today on the effects of FGM because we did not really understand the danger it possess on our girls but embraced it as part of our culture that needed to be observed,” Madam Jane said.

 Jane, a teacher said. “usidanganywe na pesa, na tusiende mtoni usiku (don't be lured with money and don't go fetching water in the night.)”

“Wasichana wakipata mimba wanateseka na mtoto hadi wanatupa kwa choo ama mtoni, (when girls give birth early, they get frustrated until they resort to abandoning their babies),” Kerubo commented.

“We should always report early enough when we sense that we are about to undergo the cut to avoid being victims of the practice.” Mary added.

Many of our girls suffered in silence but today these ones can speak up due  to  the advocacy programs coupled with self defense skills shared with them.  We submit our gratitude for your support that has enabled us to reach many schools. Your generous contributions cannot be taken for granted. Thank you so much for supporting this cause and to us every penny counts. We write a success story of how much ground has been covered because you hearkened to our call and gave us resources to rescue the girl child.

Again, with gratitude we  encourage you to continue helping  us so that we can reach another hard to reach school.

Maureen Asutsa

HFAW Team