Hello Friends, we have basically finished May and I am happy to say that the sun actually came out to say ‘hi’ for more than two minutes and it was truly great! Wearing a wide brimmed hat and sunglasses felt quite novel! Then, there was the weird thing with Aurora Borealis. How utterly incredible, right?!
Well, it was for those who saw it… Many of us missed that once-in-a-lifetime experience because we had no idea and were deep in sleep.
I didn’t cry, I promise, I just had something in my eye for three days after.
Anyway, most importantly and liberatingly, I finally finished my postgraduate course! YAY! I am free… For now.
I am currently floating around in a bubble of glorious relief and respite, garnished with an odd sense of mourning for all the hours I had to use to get here… Surely, I am not the only one who declares, “I will never EVER do another exam or coursework again… ever!”
I’m not, am I?
I think we all go through this roller coaster of emotions after doing something hard! But, it always ends with a warm feeling of accomplishment and the realisation about how lucky you were to have the chance to gain new skills and knowledge. Then you get a kick every time you get to flex your new knowledge muscles in your day-to-day life, it feels good to make progress. You even forget how hard the process was and start wondering what to do with your free evenings. Then, BAM, just like that you find yourself eying up another course because you feel you can’t miss the opportunity… That whole journey isn’t just me… is it?
Well, that’s the cornerstone of this month’s blog; having the OPPORTUNITY to learn and grow, to be the best you can be.
When I reflect, I feel so grateful that I listened to my parents, who in their own way, taught me to see my education as my superpower. There have been times in my life when I took them for granted or did not understand how lucky I was to have parents, guides and mentors who sat me down and tried to make me see why education is so very important. I mean, when I look around, the fact that they had the means to give me that opportunity is a privilege I can’t overstate enough.
I especially remember a conversation with my mother, the most amazing woman I know, who told me just how much she wished that she had taken more advantage of her educational opportunities. She explained how it can change the course of your life, who you grow to become and importantly how you can impact others around you.
She grew up in Ghana of course, where the opportunities I take for granted now, just didn’t exist. Between her and my father, they created a life whereby I have so many choices, which is something that is truly a luxury.
But, not every family is able to prioritise education for their children and in this blog I want to focus on young girls specifically in Africa.
I read a book a while ago by Jenni Murray called ‘A History of the World in 21 Women’. I mentioned it in a previous blog – it’s a fantastic book. It describes 21 women who took a stand and changed the course of the world because they dared to speak out and fight for their right to choose their own paths. For me, the most significant theme that weaved through the core of every single story was their education. Education was the one thing they all had in common, it gave them all the power and skillset to change their lives and even the world. But, crucially, it gave them the chance to be more than what their societies expected. Many of these women are the reason so many of us are who we are today, particularly in the western world, where we see the impact of these changes a lot more. But in many developing and poorer countries, these changes have not been marked and there are still so many girls who don’t have these opportunities.
In Kenya, Lesotho, and Uganda, where Rafiki Thabo provides educational opportunities, there are countless girls being overlooked in favour of the boys in their families, since their parents can only afford to send one child to school (if that). Combine that with the historic ideology that the boys are more likely to earn more and better look after them in their old age, and there is no wonder that families opt for educating their sons.
Also, in many cultures, families have the option to marry off their girls at a young age as a way to reduce the financial burden on the household, or as a way to tie themselves to a wealthier family. In these scenarios, it is the girls ‘duty to have children and keep the household, missing out on their education. Then, the cycle continues.
For those who do make it into education, young girls still encounter more than a few barriers that, unfortunately, impact the education they receive. One of these issues is dealing with their menstrual cycle.
I remember when I first started my menstrual cycle… First, you panic and think you are dying, then you feel embarrassed and alone. But I was lucky, I had all the guidance I could have needed. The painkillers, the sanitary towels, the explanation of what it was, and of course, an abundance of cuddles. So, I was able to get through it without much hassle, I didn’t even miss a day of school, although I did miss a lot of swimming lessons…
I know, ‘boo hoo me’, but even this small thing can illustrate the effect of interrupting your education. Missing those swimming lessons really was a pain, and subsequently I didn’t learn till I was in my late 20’s!
That was just swimming lessons! Imagine missing days and days of school over the year… It’s crazy to think that girls in Kenya miss an average of 4.9 days of school each month because of their menstrual cycle, a quote from Duke global health institute. That’s close to 20% of the school year! They miss school because they cannot afford sanitary products and are at risk of health complications due to using unhygienic methods of control… Without going too far into detail, we are talking about using things like dirty rags… Then reusing them! My brain can’t comprehend what that must be like, but, luckily this is one of the areas Rafiki Thabo has been supporting.
In Uganda they provided menstrual training and a year’s worth of sanitary towels to their partner school to support the young girls. They then managed to introduce a donor to their partner school, who has since provided the funding for the school to buy sanitary towels to the girls who need them. A quick and simple way to get every young girl into 20% more education… That’s a no brainer, right?
I really hope we are able to support more girls in this way, it’s such a simple solution!
Another barrier to education for children, particularly the girls, are the school facilities. Fundamental things like toilets and showers cannot be kept to a sanitary state due to underfunding and lack of resources. In one particular school in Uganda, many of the girls board at the school, but the toilets are in such an unsanitary state, they often choose not to come in at all. Some even opt for making the, often long, journey home every day, just to use the toilet. Rafiki Thabo recently received funding to help rebuild the toilets in such a school, which will have an enormous impact on these children. The impact of this is massive, the girls are more likely to stay in school, they don’t have to skip school when they are menstruating and it reduces their risk of waterborne diseases, infections and improves their overall wellbeing. Then, aside from the objective health benefits, it also provides privacy and will help them maintain their dignity, which will boost confidence and empower them during what is a very difficult time in their lives. We all know the impact of a bad toilet experience…I personally never go back!
Don’t forget that, by better educating these women, it will empower them to believe in themselves and this will positively impact others in their lives. It also means that they are less likely to have an early marriage, leading to young motherhood. So that if and when they eventually do have a child, their education will help the whole family grow. Then, on an entirely practical level, it can also take the full financial pressure off their partners, freeing them up for more parenthood and improving their chance of being able to send their children to school. It really is win win.
It’s very easy to see how impactful keeping these young girls in school can be, and so many of the barriers can be resolved with such simple steps. If you want to change the world and give more people the superpower of education, then we need everyone, boy or girl, to be able to help themselves and create a sustainable process that feeds the cycle. So if there is anything you take from this blog today, I hope it’s that your contribution could be fundamental to a painfully simple change… Simple, but so powerful and crucial to make the change sustainable, so that perhaps one day I can rewrite that book, only, I want to call it ‘Thousands of women who changed the world’.
