A Non-Governmental Organization has embarked on mentoring secondary school girls in Suba North constituency and also giving them sanitary towels.
The organization dubbed ‘One Kid One World’ aims at reducing cases of teen pregnancies, school dropouts and any form of sexual harassment of vulnerable girls.
The organization’s Coordinator Brian Ochieng said it was regrettable that girls from poor families often skipped classes due to lack of sanitary towels.
“Many vulnerable girls have fallen prey to sex pests and fail to attend classes because they cannot afford to buy sanitary pads,” he stressed.
Ochieng pointed out that the main culprits who perpetrated sexual abuse against the girls in the area were fishermen and Boda boda riders.
He said their programme involves counselling the girls on importance of abstaining from sex at an early age as well as providing them with sanitary pads to keep them in class.
“The programme will run for a period of five years and we target all girls in secondary schools. Suba North is one of the constituencies with high number of cases of teen pregnancies and child molestation,” Ochieng said.
Speaking on Sunday when they launched the exercise at Rusinga Girls Secondary School in Mbita, Ochieng said they were also involved in efforts to curb HIV prevalence among the adolescent girls.
He noted that sex for fish trade locally referred to as “Jaboya” was rampant in Suba North which borders Lake Victoria where fishing activities take place.
“Proximity to the lake has contributed to the high rate of teen pregnancies and other social vices,” he stressed adding the organization will continue helping poor and vulnerable girls until they finish secondary school.
Rusinga Girls Secondary School Deputy Principal Margaret Opong said the programme will complement government efforts in distributing sanitary materials. “This is a good programme since it intends to uplift young vulnerable girls academically. Our girls will concentrate on studies and evade sex predators,” she said.
By Davis Langat
