One of the key benefits of drilling a well and making safe water easily accessible is increased school attendance. When children no longer need to spend hours each day walking to and from distant ponds and creeks for water for their families, they can be in their classrooms.
We monitor school attendance and almost always see it increase after a new well is available, or an existing well is operating again.
However, that wasn’t happening at several schools in Kenya in 2023 after we provided, through our ongoing partnership with STADA Kenya, the students and staff with safe, accessible water. Attendance improved among the boys but not among the girls. Why?
When we investigated, we learned the girls were reluctant to come to school during their monthly menstrual cycles because although they now had water to cleanse themselves, their impoverished families couldn’t afford to provide sanitary pads.
That led to Lifewater helping STADA Kenya recruit and train several women to sew washable (therefore re-useable) sanitary pads. The pads are now part of “Dignity Kits” that STADA distributes during Health and Hygiene classes that STADA offers at schools and in other community settings as water projects are completed. In the photo to the left, girls are showing their kits.
After the introduction of the Dignity Kits, we’ve been delighted to see Kenyan girls regularly in school attendance. Another lesson learned!
