When choosing to put food on the table, pay bills or buy sanitary pads, the latter likely falls to the bottom of the priority list for many families. This is because most households are struggling to meet basic needs.
The risk brought about by this predicament is that it poses practical and psychological challenges to girls living in low-income areas to manage their menstruation.
Fortunately, there are some organisations and youth advocates who have come out to provide pads to these girls due to the prevalence of period poverty.
Menstrual Daddy is one good example. He has been collecting coins from strangers, friends and his fellow students since 2019 with the aim of providing sanitary towels to as many girls as possible.
He aims to minimise absenteeism in school and the high prevalence rates of teen pregnancies brought about by transactional sex.
His official name is Alfred Abuka, a sexual productive health youth advocate.
The 25-year-old studied community resource management and extension at Kenyatta University and graduated last year. He coined himself the name ‘Menstrual Daddy’ as a tool to normalise the conversation behind menstrual hygiene and management.
“We are three of us. There is Period Man, aka Atito, from Mombasa, and Mr Pads in Kibera. Although I have never met Mr Pads, I’m proud of what we are doing, that is disseminating information and supporting menstrual hygiene with the hope of raking in more male allies to this great feat,” he says.
PROBLEM-SOLVING
Abuka, who grew up in the ghetto of Kisauni, Mombasa, says he was driven to do what he does after seeing how period poverty denies girls the right to education and puts them at the risk of contracting infectious diseases, such as HIV and Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs).
“We, men, contribute to period poverty in terms of transactional sex. You support a girl with pads in exchange for sexual favours without even taking into consideration the psychological trauma it imposes on her and the exposure to HIV infections and STIs,” he said.
To address these challenges, Abuka started a pads drive initiative while still doing his studies at KU. He managed to take at least 200 pads to a rescue centre in Kajiado, Grace Nanana, which hosts FGM survivors and girls rescued from early marriages.
When the coronavirus pandemic hit and the first cases were reported in Kenya in early March 2020, Abuka started a Sh10 challenge. He sourced for people who could support him with Sh10 every week.
“It was a success. I found myself supporting 50 girls a week with a supply of pads for three to four months. In a week, I would collect Sh5,000 or even Sh6,000. My fellow students would send me more than the Sh10 and at times, I would receive cash from anonymous people, and others would drop me pads,” he said.
“I believe in humanity. If you are in a position to change a situation and help somebody, help them. We don’t give because we have excess but we have access.”
The highest Abuka has ever collected was Sh120,000. This was within three months. He started another challenge to collect only Sh 1. He started in September last year. He would walk along the streets, introduce himself as Menstrual Daddy and the conversation would pick up from there.
“It was easier when I introduced myself as Menstrual Daddy. The name always sparked a conversation because people were curious to know why I went by that name. This was my chance to fill them in on my passion for menstrual hygiene and the girls I am supporting. It was also a chance to bring in more male allies in this movement,” he says.
The Sh120,000 was made possible by strangers and friends. He says for those who don’t have coins in hand, they would send via mobile money. Abuka has a till number dedicated to the pads drive initiative. He has vowed not to touch it because he believes it would be an injustice to the person who really needs it.
This year, his goal is to reach at least 1 million people with his Sh1 pads drive. He intends to cover all the ghetto and slums areas in Nairobi then scale up to arid areas.
He says the issue of reusable pads is sustainable but also creates another problem for the girls who stay in areas that have no access to water. The reusable pads require high standards of hygiene and with insufficient water, it is impossible to attain that. It will instead create more problems and pose a high risk of vaginal infections.
“I want to collect as much as I can, especially because the elections are underway. We do not know how the outcome will be. If I get 100,000 pads, I will have achieved my goal for this year because I know it will help many disadvantaged girls out there,” he said.
Abuka usually sources those to help from community-based organisations or youth groups in informal settlements. They help him get the girls who are in dire need of sanitary towels. Other girls are sourced from art or football clubs in the ghetto.
Approximately 4 million girls in public schools in Kenya receive sanitary products through the government's sanitary towels programme launched in 2011.
GENDER DEPARTMENT RESOLUTION
According to the State Department of Gender, despite the provision of Free Basic Education, many girls continue to miss out on education due to absenteeism related to reproductive health issues.
They are forced to stay away from school when they are not facilitated to manage their menstruation. Studies have shown that girls from poor families miss 20 per cent of school days in a year due to a lack of sanitary towels.
The department says data from the Ministry of Education indicates that a girl who is absent from school for four days in 28 days (a month) loses 13 learning days, equivalent to two weeks of learning, in every school term. In an academic year (nine months), a girl loses 39 learning days, equivalent to six weeks of learning time.
A girl in primary school between grades 6 and 8 (three years) loses 18 learning weeks out of 108 weeks. Within the four years of high school, a girl can lose 156 learning days, equivalent to almost 24 weeks out of 144 weeks of learning.
To address this challenge, the government, through the State Department for Gender Affairs, has been charged with the responsibility of procuring and distributing sanitary towels for 3.7 million girls in public primary schools, special primary and secondary schools in the country during the 2017-18 financial year at a cost of Sh470 million.
The Sanitary Towels programme to girls in public schools was first launched in 2011 under the Ministry of Education. It was subsequently transferred from the Ministry of Education to the Ministry of Public Service, Youth and Gender Affairs during the 2017-18 financial year, with a budget of Sh470 million.
