'Blood may overflow and stain my skirt': Schoolgirl's struggle with period poverty during holidays
Gloria Achieng', director of Soulevement Organisation, distributes sanitary pads to pupils as part of an initiative to support menstrual hygiene and keep girls in school, on September 22, 2023.
What you need to know:
Lacking menstrual products, rural schoolgirls in Homa Bay face stigma, infections, and missed classes, highlighting broken government promises and urgent gender gaps.
Girls like Ida Achieng' endure painful holidays without pads, relying on unsafe methods, while officials cite limited funds and logistics.
When schools close for holidays, Ida Achieng' has to forgo items that most teenagers would consider necessary.
At school, she has the privilege to access margarine and cocoa during breakfast and applies lotion to her body before sleeping. She, however, borrows most of the items from her schoolmates when hers run out. Ida comes from a remote village in Kanyikela, Ndhiwa, Homa Bay County, where residents depend on subsistence sugarcane farming. Just like most people from the region, her parents are peasant farmers and struggle to pay her fees at Ratanga Girls Secondary School.
When going to school, her family cannot afford all that she needs. To reduce spending and set aside some money for fees, the 17-year-old says her parents buy basic items such as soap and sugar and give her in smaller packets, unlike other students who have more than they need. Her struggles at school usually comes during her menstrual cycle.
Ida says she goes to school every term with just a packet of sanitary towels. “It is what my parents can afford. Unfortunately, it usually runs out before the term ends.”
When she runs out of sanitary towels, the Form Four student asks for help from other girls who are willing to share the extra they have. “Some of my schoolmates are privileged and report with up to five packets. I depend on them to get help."
Since joining school in 2022, she has never received sanitary towels from their administration. She is, however, confident and never worried about compromising her menstrual hygiene in school because some of the other girls have got her back. But her story is different when she goes home during holidays in April, August and December.
Unlike most of her peers whose parents live in urban areas, Ida has to engage in back-breaking chores such as looking after livestock and cultivation during the planting season. She endures difficulties during her menses. For her, a piece of cloth and three inner-wears help her control her menstrual flow. She says some of her peers in the village whose families cannot afford sanitary towels use old mattresses.
“A lot of girls in my village do not have the privilege of using sanitary towels. I cannot ask for help from them like I do in school. Most of them improvise pads and use them to stop blood flow.”
Using unsafe materials makes her susceptible to infections and other health risks, and lowers her self-esteem. “Sometimes I isolate myself from different groups knowing that blood may overflow and stain my skirt. It is easier to stay at home and avoid a lot of complications.”
Despite a packet of sanitary towels costing less than Sh100, some parents struggle to buy the product for their daughters.
In Shauri Yako, an informal settlement in Homa Bay town, Goreti Adhiambo cuts the cost of pads for her daughter by encouraging her to use washable sanitary towels during school holidays. Her daughter is in Form Four at Bishop Okulu Magare Girls Secondary School. When going to school, she packs at least two packets of sanitary towels.
Goreti says budget constraints limit her spending. “I sell milk and the profit I get is mostly spent on food and other household items. I try to limit the shopping my daughter carries to school to basic items because of financial difficulties.”
Sometimes her daughter tells her that she has run out of sanitary towels and needs an extra packet. In such a case, Goreti walks to school, at least 10 kilometres away, to deliver the item. But during school holidays, she has reusable pads for her daughter. “After use, I encourage her to wash and keep them. It helps to save costs.”
Sometimes, however, the girl complains of heavy flow, which the usable towels cannot hold. “I have once in a while put pieces of cloth together with the usable pads to prevent blood from dripping down her legs. It is not recommended but it is economical,” Goreti says.
In Arujo, Helen Atieno, a 70-year-old fish trader, says her granddaughter, a Form Two student at Opapo Secondary School in Rongo, Migori County, struggles to get sanitary towels. She occasionally forgets to buy pads for the girl, who lost her parents when she was still young. “She tells me that she needs money to purchase sanitary towels when I have nothing in my pockets. It forces me to borrow from friends to save the situation or ask the local shopkeeper to give me the pads on credit.”
Menstrual cycles give village girls a challenge and sometimes prompt them to miss school, hindering their educational development. Ogande Girls High School Principal Jane Odhiambo says female learners should have enough sanitary towels to avoid skipping classes. The school has 2,700 students.
During admission, the principal says, teachers observe the behaviour of learners to identify those who need assistance. They also identify learners who have problems that can be shared. When such students are spotted, female teachers approach them and speak with them. But some are difficult to deal with and always keep quiet no matter their suffering.
Jane says some learners hide in the toilet when they are on their menses. “Some learners from vulnerable families lack sanitary towels and most of them are shy and cannot express themselves. Some are known to hide in toilets during lessons when they need to use pads but do not have any.”
The principal says teachers would only know this when marking class register and then try to provide a solution. Ogande Girls runs a programme where learners with extra packets donate to those who lack. They are placed centrally, so learners can pick up to help themselves. Jane explains that their students are encouraged to donate should they have more than they need. The exercise happens every term and the school collects to sustain menstrual hygiene for girls.
Jane says some girls do not request help and choose to go home, leading to dismal academic performance. “These are mostly learners who struggle to pay school fees. Some have ended up dropping out because of their situation.”
False promise
The school management says the last time the government distributed sanitary pads was in 2019 during Covid-19 to help Form Four candidates. Jane says a group of learners from the school also got constant supply until 2022 before an NGO that was supporting them withdrew the programme.
The situation is a little different at Marindi Girls Secondary School with 472 learners. All of them have their menstrual needs taken care as they get help from a nongovernmental organisation. Principal Mary Atieno says they partnered with the NGO to help vulnerable students. They also run a programme where girls with extra pads donate to help their needy schoolmates.
Teachers at the two schools want the government to fulfil its promise of providing sanitary towels. Mary says some learners cannot afford menstrual products. For some, the products aren’t available in rural areas where they live, she adds. Some girls use homemade alternatives such as rags, blankets, pieces of mattress, tissue paper and wool. “Schools can offer the best platform for learners from vulnerable families to access sanitary products,” Mary says.
Gender advocates want the crisis to be solved as soon as possible. Development Knowledge Link Africa (Devlink) Executive Director Esther Soti and Nyarongi Women’s Group Chair Irene Ojwang’ fault the government for giving unfulfilled promises.
Esther terms it unfortunate that the government cannot accomplish what it had promised. Devlink runs different programmes targeting schoolgirls in Homa Bay, with at least 20,000 listed in different initiatives. “Some of them are from vulnerable families and are known to miss school when they have their menses. How can they perform well when they stay at home for up to five days a month?”
Esther says a lack of sanitary towels can be blamed on girls performing worse than boys in national examinations. Esther says fishing communities do not value their girls’ education. “The promise by the government is just a dream. Many girls do not get sanitary pads. It is a big thing in our communities and needs urgent solutions.”
Irene says help should go beyond sanitary towels, adding the government should provide panties as well. “Female learners should be given dignity kits. You may give them pads, but they have no innerwear.”
The gender advocate says a few NGOs are implementing programmes that provide such materials. She, however, notes that it is not enough and the gaps can be filled by the state.
Killion Amata, an officer at the Gender and Affirmative Action department in Homa Bay, says the government is still distributing sanitary towels to schools. He, however, says not all girls can get pads. “Distribution is done on an annual basis and what is supplied can only be taken to a few schools. The gender office has a criterion of choosing schools that should benefit. It is mostly based on the level of vulnerability.”
On average, up to 150 schools can get a year’s supply and not all girls would benefit, Killion says. “We also face a challenge with logistics. This office does not have a vehicle that can be used to supply pads to schools.”
The gender office is reaching out to other organisations to offer help in distribution and donation of sanitary towels. It is working with the office of the woman representative. National Government Affirmative Action Fund Homa Bay coordinator William Otago says the exercise is going on smoothly.
Mr Julius Omuga, an education activist and coordinator of Homa Bay Education Network, however, faults women representatives for hijacking sanitary towels distribution for political mileage. Julius, who sits in the gender sector working group in Homa Bay, says the county legislators took over the exercise from the Education ministry. He, however, adds the takeover was meant to help them gain popularity. “Woman representatives insisted on taking over the task of distributing sanitary towels from the Education ministry and transferred it to the gender department. They are now using it as a campaign tool.”
He claims some free sanitary towels find their way into shops. “Instead of helping our children, the pads help a few corrupt individuals who want to use the material for political gain.”
Governor Gladys Wanga says poverty plays a role in teenage pregnancies when girls cannot afford some items they need in life and are lured into traps. She says teenage girls can overcome this challenge when they stay focused on their education and avoid destruction in life.
“I was from a vulnerable family where we would be displaced by floods every year. I did not have most of the things that other girls had, but I had a dream,” she says.
The county chief hosts mentorship sessions with schoolgirls. The programme was started in 2013 when she was elected woman representative. Gladys says her story should be a source of inspiration to girls, especially those who believe that lack of certain things in life can ruin their dreams.
She says her vision of transformation made her overcome the challenges she faced at school. “Some of my classmates are coming to me to consult on how I made it in life. Let your family background not determine what you want to achieve in life,” she says.