As part of International Women’s Week, we’re continuing our spotlight of our chosen charity this year, Empowering Kids in Kenya, which is supporting The Bombolulu Educational Centre in Mombasa, Kenya. Nancy, the school manager, shared with us her experiences and challenges women and girls in her school face – and the powerful impact of education, advocacy and empowerment.
Happy International Women's Day to all women and girls! I’m Nancy, the school manager. I am so happy to be speaking about women and girls (US). Growing up in Africa I learned many stark realities around gender. When I was a young girl, I could see it– boys were prioritised in education which eventually landed them good jobs and great opportunities while most girls were forced to drop-out of primary schools. We lacked supplies of sanitary towels, learning materials and uniforms to name a few, which meant they were not supported after primary school or to join secondary school. Because of poverty, many girls had early pregnancies and marriages to older men in exchange for dowry for their families. The tough transition for young mothers often leads to gender-based violence. African culture dictates that women must stay in the marriage no matter the challenges. The sad reality is that these women suffer depression, they are physically abused, and some commit suicide while others live a life of hopelessness.
I’m glad to say that with time, girls have learned to fight for what is right. We’ve started pushing for equal chances for education which has not been easy as it's often perceived as a threat to men. Now, many girls have gone to school, have good jobs and are leading in many sectors including government positions. We have women who are advocating for fellow women, girls and children, but we still have a long way to go. Many girls and women in many parts of our county today are still undergoing GBV, femicide, discrimination and much more. We say no to any form of abuse to our women, girls and children. At The Bombolulu Educational Centre we are raising a generation of powerful, resilient and brave girls! We teach them that each one of us is a jewel and nobody should demean them. They all have equal opportunities to education through our sponsorship program, and if they work hard and get good grades, they will achieve their boldest dreams!
In this community today, we have many girls who dropped out of school due to poverty and retrogressive cultural practices. A huge number of these young women have no basic education, which makes life difficult for them and creates a need for empowerment. We want to give hope to these women and girls by giving them training on tailoring, plaiting, computer literacy, entrepreneurship and many more employability skills.
Also, access to quality healthcare services are a major challenge in this community due to the high level of poverty, which leads women and young girls to give birth at home, causing complications to both mothers and their children. Drug addiction, stress and depression are rising and there's a need to set up a healthcare facility to deal with these challenges for a better future. All these require resources, it's our appeal to you all to join us on our mission to make The Bombolulu Educational Centre great by uplifting our children, women, our young girls and boys, the youth and men altogether. Women are the pillars of our society! Happy International Women's Day.
