Blog – Page 3 – Nyamboyo Technical School

Female Genital Cutting: Safeguarding Kenya’s Young Women

by Laura Darcey

Female genital cutting (FGC) is a practice that involves the complete or partial removal of the external female genitalia for non-medical reasons. It is frequently practised on young girls and is a deeply entrenched tradition in many communities marking the transition from girlhood to womanhood.

In 2021, it was estimated that 21% of Kenyan women aged 15-49 had undergone FGC. Breaking down the most recent data by age group, however, shows that the prevalence for women aged 45-49 is 40.9%, while for the youngest age group it has fallen to 11.9%. This demonstrates that progress has been made in recent years, but FGC remains prevalent in Kenya.

FGC has been classified as a human rights violation by the United Nations . It can range from Type 1 – the partial or total removal of the clitoral glans, and/or the clitoral hood, to Type 3 – infibulation, the narrowing of the vaginal opening through the creation of a covering seal, which is formed by cutting and repositioning the labia minora or labia majora, sometimes through stitching.

There are no medical benefits associated with FGC, but many dangers. Immediate consequences of FGC can include excessive bleeding, swelling, fever, infection, urinary problems, shock and death. Long term complications can range from menstrual problems, sexual challenges, and psychological issues to an increased risk of childbirth complications, including fistula and new-born death .

Girls who have undergone FGC experience physical trauma and health complications that can make school attendance and learning difficult. In addition, FGC reinforces patriarchal structures, positioning young girls as prospective wives and mothers, rather than autonomous individuals. Following FGC, many girls become withdrawn as they face the short and long-term health complications associated with the procedure .

A Cultural Expectation

In some Kenyan communities, FGC is part of a larger coming-of-age ceremony wherein girls establish their identity and indicate that they are ready to be wed. The practice is driven by families who want their daughters to be accepted in the community and married into good families who can support them.

FGC is also performed for cosmetic reasons, as some men prefer the physical aesthetic of a woman who has been circumcised. A woman who has not undergone the procedure is sometimes viewed as ‘unclean’. Religious doctrine is also frequently used to justify the practice, although many religious scholars and international organisations maintain that FGC is endorsed by neither Christianity nor Islam.

The pressure to undergo the cut can be immense. An uncircumcised woman can be seen as devalued, unclean and cowardly. Women risk losing their social standing in the community, their prospects of finding a husband, and their worth as a bride. This can lead to women being marginalised and becoming both socially and economically vulnerable.

Surprisingly, the greatest supporters of the practice are often female elders. These women, who were circumcised as children, hold real political power. They are both practitioners who derive major income from performing the cutting , and are those who uphold the rituals and teachings associated with the practice. It is not uncommon for an elder to overrule the FGC preferences of a girl or those of her mother.

Poverty, Marriage and School Holidays

Financial shocks can increase the prevalence of FGC. If a family is undergoing financial hardship, they may look to marry off their daughter in exchange for a dowry, requiring her to undergo FGC in preparation. Currently, climate change is exacerbating these issues, creating more desperate families who are not willing to risk foregoing FGC, despite the waning popularity of the procedure .

The Covid-19 pandemic demonstrated that economic and social disruption can also lead to an increase in FGC. First, the usual processes to protect girls from FGC were halted during the pandemic, leaving girls vulnerable. Then, schools which have historically been a source of protection for school-aged girls at risk of FGC, were closed. Girls are most commonly cut during the Christmas holidays, which is the longest vacation of the year and allows them time to heal from the procedure without scrutiny from teachers or school administrators. During Covi, this school year protection disappeared. Data gathered by UNICEF in nine Kenyan counties shows a 121% increase in the number of FGC cases between January and November 2020 compared to the same period in 2019. The number of girls rescued from FGC dropped from 1,073 in 2019 to 994 in 2020 .

Additionally, pandemic-related travel restrictions prevented government officials, law enforcement, and humanitarian workers from travelling in regions with high FGC prevalence to implement child protection programmes.

Criminalising FGC

FGC was banned in Kenya in 2001 through the Children’s Act which stated “no person shall subject a child to female circumcision, early marriage or other cultural rites, customs or traditional practices that are likely to negatively affect the child’s life, health, social welfare, dignity or physical or psychological development”.

In 2011, Kenya criminalised FGC and set the goal of eliminating the practice by 2022, passing more explicit legislation – the Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation Act, which imposed harsh penalties or perpetrators of FGC, including a minimum fine of 200,000 KSH (equivalent to $1,800), or three years imprisonment, or both . The Kenyan government also established an “Anti-Female Genital Mutilation and Child Prosecution Unit” with 20 prosecutors based in FGC practicing communities around the country to deal exclusively with eradicating the practice .

Yet, superstitions around FGC have been passed down from generation to generation, and indicate a certain way of life and belief system. The interference of government officials from far-off Nairobi, and aid workers from even further away in Europe and America, are distant and foreign compared to deeply rooted customs that permeate the everyday lives of the people and tribes that practise FGC .

The criminalisation of the practice has pushed it underground, making it harder for police officers and local officials to identify, arrest and prosecute those practising it. Additionally, many Kenyans, including law enforcement officials are unwilling to report FGC t in their communities. Often, it is their own grandmothers who are doing the cutting .

Education as Protection

FGC acts as a barrier to girls’ education, particularly when it serves as a precursor to child marriage. But education can also be a way to help girls escape FGC.

Accessing education creates a ‘network effect’ for girls, providing them with the life skills and the social space to introduce new concepts and giving room for the exchange of ideas. Education strengthens the agency and ability of girls to understand and exercise their rights. School-based interventions such as teacher training and curriculum on the risks of FGC as well as wider gender equality, raises girls’ awareness and strengthens their decision-making capabilities. School attendance can also protect girls from FGC. In countries where FGC is practised, 54% of women with no education report they have undergone FGC, compared to 19% of women who have some level of secondary education .

Access to education also has the potential to affect girls’ decisions when they have children of their own. Of women who underwent FGC, 85% of those who completed primary education believe the practice should stop, compared with 35% of those with no education . According to a report by the International Centre for Research on Women, women’s support for FGC decreases as her level of education increases. Education can protect the next generation of girls from FGC .

How Does NTS Help Combat the Practice?

NTS provides girls with an alternative path, empowering girls so that marriage is not their only option. By earning a professional degree, young women can secure their own financial future and get married once their careers are established and have reached personal financial stability. The professionals in our community model this for our female students, showing them what it looks like to be an empowered woman.

NTS also takes great care to ensure students are well-informed. We teach students about the dangers of FGC in reproductive health classes. In civics lessons, we cover students’ constitutional and legal rights, including the fact that FGC is illegal in Kenya. And our child safeguarding policy ensures all students are aware of their rights to physical and emotional safety. Additionally, gender equality lessons help to break down some of the patriarchal assumptions that can contribute to FGC.

Structurally, NTS has only short holidays. This means students are not exposed to long breaks from school, therefore reducing the chance they are whisked away for an FGC procedure. And other opportunities, as they arise, will be incorporated into the curriculum and general community social structure.

References

^[1] Health and Human Rights Journal, Eradicating Female Genital Mutilation / Cutting https://www.hhrjournal.org/2018/08/eradicating-female-genital-mutilation-cutting-human-rights-based-approaches-of-legislation-education-and-community-empowerment/

^[2] WHO, Female Genital Mutilation https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/female-genital-mutilation

^[3] WHO

^[4] WHO

^[5] Vice, Female Genital Cutting is on the rise during COVID in Kenya https://www.vice.com/en/article/xgzm83/female-genital-cutting-is-on-the-rise-during-covid-in-kenya

^[6] ICRW, Leveraging Education to end female genital cutting worldwide https://www.icrw.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/ICRW-WGF-Leveraging-Education-to-End-FGMC-Worldwide-November-2016-FINAL.pdf

^[7] Pulitzer Centre, Climate Change pushes girls in Northern Kenya back to early marriage and FGM https://pulitzercenter.org/projects/climate-change-pushes-girls-northern-kenya-back-early-marriage-and-female-genital

^[8] Vice

^[9] Vice

^[10] Vice

^[11] UNAA, Why is female genital cutting practised, and what is being done to eliminate it? https://www.unaa.org.au/2021/02/06/why-is-female-genital-cutting-practised-and-what-is-being-done-to-eliminate-it/

^[12] Pulitzer Centre, Some Anti-FGM activists say law is not enough to end practice https://pulitzercenter.org/stories/some-anti-fgm-activists-say-law-not-enough-end-practice

^[13] Orchid Project, Intersection between female genital cutting and education https://www.orchidproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Intersection-Between-Female-Genital-Cutting-and-Education.pdf

^[14] UNICEF, The power of education to end female genital mutilation https://data.unicef.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/The-power-of-education-to-end-FGM_2022.pdf

^[15] ICRW

Why Math?

by Natali Chinchaladze, NTS teen blogger

Why is math important? It has been a key area of study even before formal schooling began. But what role does it play in the development of the human mind particularly during childhood?

At Stanford University, researchers have identified that there are three regions of the brain that predict improvement in math learning. Evidently, even the simplest math tasks “lit up” multiple regions of the brain simultaneously. Tanya Evans, the lead researcher, said, “It’s not just a math part of the brain; it’s a network of regions”. [1] This means that the whole brain is “awake” while concentrating on math solutions.

Now, what happens to adolescents who don’t receive or stop receiving education in math? Researchers from the Department of Experimental Psychology at the University of Oxford and Loughborough University experimented on 133 students ages 14–18 and found a decrease in certain brain chemicals in a brain area that supports math, memory, learning, reasoning, and problem-solving. [2] This means that key functions never develop to their fullest, leaving minds under-developed in critical areas such as: problem-solving, organizing chaotic thoughts, rational thinking, critical thinking, logical reasoning, and the ability to order activities in steps.

In Kenya, this shows up in employer responses to surveys. While most employers report being satisfied with the knowledge of graduates in different disciplines, they consistently report deficiencies problem-solving skills. Problem-solving involves an ability to plan ahead and look at the consequences of different potential decisions. If this critical skill isn’t learned in early years through math education, it becomes much harder to teach in later years and can lead to a stunted career future.

Nyamboyo’s Technical School is combatting this in our three years of intensive vocational training. Students learn math in their studies. In addition, NTS is developing algebra and financial literacy programs that will be required of all students within the next year. Our goal is to provide students with a training that opens their minds and gives them skills beyond math, using math as a tool for brain development.

[1]https://www.bostonglobe.com/ideas/2015/09/17/this-your-brain-math/WMrjRMIyyBmtJCLhb5m2FM/story.html#bgmp-comments

[2]https://www.lboro.ac.uk/news-events/news/2021/june/lack-math-education-affects-brain-development/

Is Healthcare Equity Possible in Kenya?

by Megha Rana

As mentioned in Part 2, a large portion of Kenyan healthcare financing comes from out-of-pocket (OOP) payments. OOP healthcare payments worldwide are estimated to push over 100 million people into poverty annually. Kenya can ill afford this – with a population of 25.5 people living at some level of poverty, this means a sick nation unable to reach its potential.

In fact, the economic burden that results from OOP payments is inversely related to income level. In other words, the poorest are often the ones who have the highest OOP fees, spending on average 10-15% of their budget for proper health. This is not only a form of catastrophic health spending (i.e., when the amount a household pays out of pocket is greater than the capacity of the share kept for healthcare purposes), but also creates several barriers to receiving proper healthcare.

Government spending on healthcare in Kenya is one of the lowest in Africa with only 9.1% of the government’s budget allocated towards the healthcare sector. This contrasts the 2001 Abuja Declaration on healthcare in Africa, that all governments must allocate at least 15% of their budget to healthcare sectors. In 2020, Kenya’s health expenditure per capita (i.e., the amount a country spends on health) was $83 or KES 11,806. This compares to Eygpt’s $151 or KES 21,478, Equatorial Guinea’s $237 or KES 33,711 and South Africa’s $490 or KES 69,698.

While other African countries are increasing their funding for the healthcare sector, Kenya is lagging. Although taxes and tax revenues are increasing (one Kenyan recently complained that soon the air will be taxed), the public healthcare sector is not benefitting. The political and economic danger here is if the poor and middle class are seeing less income because of increased taxes but still squeezed with OOP healthcare payments, the financial burden on those in need will only increase. Again, those needing care will not have the means to access it.

In essence, health equity can only be achieved in Kenya when there is a greater investment into healthcare sectors to provide support for those unable to care for themselves. An investment in healthy citizens means an investment in a healthy economy and greater political stability.

References:

https://www.who.int/data/gho/indicator-metadata-registry/imr-details/4989#:~:text=Catastrophic%20health%20spending%20occurs%20when,to%20pay%20for%20health%20care.

Chuma, J., Okungu, V. Viewing the Kenyan health system through an equity lens: implications for universal coverage. Int J Equity Health 10, 22 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1186/1475-9276-10-22

https://blogs.worldbank.org/africacan/remaining-ahead-curve-what-should-kenya-do-achieve-its-universal-health-coverage

Barasa, E.W., Maina, T. & Ravishankar, N. Assessing the impoverishing effects, and factors associated with the incidence of catastrophic health care payments in Kenya.Int J Equity Health 16, 31 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12939-017-0526-x

Salari, Paola et al. “The catastrophic and impoverishing effects of out-of-pocket healthcare payments in Kenya, 2018.” BMJ global health vol. 4,6 e001809. 24 Nov. 2019, doi:10.1136/bmjgh-2019-001809

Mwenda, Ngugi et al. “What Drives Outpatient Care Costs in Kenya? An Analysis With Generalized Estimating Equations.” Frontiers in public health vol. 9 648465. 22 Sep. 2021, doi:10.3389/fpubh.2021.648465

https://www.who.int

The Status of Healthcare in Kenya Today

by Megha Rana

Since the early 2000’s, Kenya has made great progress in reducing child deaths, improving access to maternal healthcare, and expanding healthcare coverage. After many failed attempts, as discussed in our earlier blog, the Kenyan government has been working toward developing a healthcare system that can effectively provide high-quality care to the entire population. In 2017-2018, it was estimated that 72% of all county-level public health systems were more than 80% efficient. In other words, these systems were more than 80% successful in using their allocated resources for positive health outcomes of patients.

However, universal healthcare coverage, meaning all people have access to healthcare services when and where they need them without financial worry, is still out-of-reach. To-date, 50% of Kenya’s population or 25.5 million people do not have access to essential and affordable health services. It is an inequity leading to deep discontent among Kenyans.

What has created this inequity?

Current healthcare is Kenya is affected by exploitation for financial gains, creating inaccessibility to public healthcare services for poor and marginalized communities. A report completed and shared by the Global Initiative for Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (GI-ESCR) analyses how strengthening public healthcare sectors has been disregarded in favor of strengthening private systems. Figure 1 illustrates the division of health facilities by public facilities, non-governmental organizations, faith-based institutions, and private practices.

Private practices take the largest share of health facilities in Kenya. The authors note that healthcare provided in private facilities is very expensive because private providers, who operate for-profit clinics and hospitals only provide treatment where they have revenue opportunities. This is compared to NGO and faith-based programs where revenue is low to non-existent.

Despite recent efforts, the Kenyan government is struggling to balance the need to generate earnings from patients while still making sure there are no barriers to healthcare access. In public healthcare settings, government funding is limited and, as a result, the main source of funding comes from user fees. This means that patients, a majority of whom live at or just above the world poverty level, are without health insurance and must pay out-of-pocket. This leads to millions of Kenyans ignoring health needs because they cannot afford care.

Stay tuned for Part 3

References:

Healthcare in Kenya remains elusive due to commercialization

Moses MW, Korir J, Zeng W, et al

Performance assessment of the county healthcare systems in Kenya: a mixed-methods analysis

BMJ Global Health 2021;6:e004707.

https://www.netherlandsandyou.nl/latest-news/news/2022/11/30/trade-mission-kenya

Mohajan, Haradhan. “Improvement of health sector in Kenya.” (2014): 159-169.

Moses, Mark W et al. “Performance assessment of the county healthcare systems in Kenya: a mixed-methods analysis.” BMJ global health vol. 6,6 (2021): e004707. doi:10.1136/bmjgh-2020-004707

Kenya’s Healthcare Reform – A Brief History

by Megha Rana

Since Kenya’s independence in 1963, a national focus has been on building a healthy working country, with “healthcare for all” as a centerpiece. The first developmental plan for Kenya was released in 1965, with the purpose of designing a healthy state of growth for the nation and developing social/economic relations. Called the “Sessional Paper”, it emphasized the elimination of disease, poverty, and illiteracy. While noble, it did not succeed in managing the healthcare needs of a growing and diverse population.

It was not until 1994, that the government approved the Kenya Health Policy Framework (KHPF) for developing and managing health services. The policy focused on four areas: sustainable, accessible, and affordable quality healthcare; sharing of resources; participation and working with others; and the consistent involvement of the government.

To bring this policy into action, in 1996, the Ministry of Health (MOH) developed the Kenya Health Policy Framework Implementation Action Plan and established the Health Sector Reform Secretariat (HSRS) to track the progress of the implementation process. However, this plan soon failed because it lacked the necessary infrastructure. A new plan called the National Health Sector Strategic Plan was created in its place. Controlled by the central government, it offered free universal healthcare.

However, by the early 2000’s, with the population growing at a rate faster than the expansion of the healthcare system, a supply crisis emerged. A lack of funding and clinics meant few citizens could access basic healthcare. This led to another radical change in the healthcare system, putting greater emphasis on private sector healthcare and the government’s role in regulating preventative health. Like many countries, politics remained a real driver of health reform in Kenya.

In 2008, the Ministry of Health was split into two branches, creating a redundant system with duplicated efforts, difficulty in sharing resources and unreliability in assigned responsibilities. New health reforms were needed to provide equitable, accessible, and affordable healthcare to all.

Stay tuned for Part 2.

References:

https://dhsprogram.com/pubs/pdf/spa8/02chapter2.pdf

Wamai, Richard G.. “Administration and Reforms in Post-Colonial Kenya and Challenges for the Future.” (2009).

Meet Natali – NTS’ Official Teen Blogger!

Today, it is our honor to introduce NTS’ teen blogger, Natali Chinchaladze. Natali discovered NTS through the website VolunteerMatch. We have worked together for nearly a year and her work is remarkable by any standards – most particularly for someone so young, who speaks English as a second language. Rather than tell you about her, it is our pleasure for you to meet Natali in her own words:

It is a pleasure to meet the NTS school community. I am 15 years old and from Kutaisi, Georgia – the Republic of Georgia not the US. I am in the 11th grade and study at Niko Nikoladze School.

School is my great love. There are millions of things I like and admire about my school. Even walking in the gate makes me cheerful and instantly lifts my mood. My priority is to study and I am different this way from many teens my age. I am lucky to be in a school where the teachers make the school environment welcoming and open, they respect my love for learning, and I feel I can truly be and grow into my best self. I am specifically so grateful to my mathematics teacher, who has taught me since 7th grade. He was the first math teacher who made me look at the subject differently, and through his help, I became quite interested and fully committed to the subject. He is the portrait of the ideal teacher, who puts in a lot of extra hours to make our education really count.

Academic achievement is the fuel that keeps me going and motivated. I know that education is the key to a better, brighter future. I know that all of this hard work won’t go to waste and may lead me to my dream university. But these characteristics of mine—dedication, aim for results, seriousness of purpose — do separate me from other teens. So, when friendships are hard to make, I turn to books which take me to worlds where I am independent and free and where there are a million possibilities.

And while I disappear into others’ tales, I know I am building my own. In addition to school, I love volunteer activities. I have taught children the English language online in India and, am proud to be NTS’ teen blogger. I love writing about diverse topics that concern millions of people. And this experience has taught me a lot about the world and its many challenges. It has helped me to realize what “work” means.

In life, I adore every hardworking person who has put, as poets would say, “blood and sweat” into becoming their present self. And kindness, I think, is one of the greatest things to appreciate in life. It is beautiful to see even the smallest gestures of kindness.

And since NTS is about helping teens build futures, let me tell you about my hopes for my future career. I want to be a political scientist where I will have the chance to change people’s lives for the better and debate things of international value. Challenging these great problems makes me stronger, and I always remember John Kennedy’s speech at Rice University where he said, “We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard”.

The Essence of Food

By Natali Chinchaladze, NTS teen blogger

From the beginning of humanity to today, the search for food has always been a prime survival instinct. As our scientific understanding of the nutritional requirements of humans, at all stages of development has grown, so has the centrality of food.

Today, 162 countries, including Kenya, are committed to 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations, one of which is Zero Hunger, This noble idea means eradicating hunger completely by 2030. This is a grave challenge, particularly during this era of radical climate change and food shortages.

Here’s a key question: what happens to adolescents who are not provided with adequate nutrition?

The official page of UNICEF Kenya states: “In Kenya, more than a quarter of children under the age of five, or two million children, have stunted growth. Stunting is the most frequent form of under-nutrition among young children. If we do not address this issue, it will have devastating long-term effects, including decreased mental and physical development. In addition, 11 percent of children are underweight, which is related to increased and preventable deaths among young children.”

Nutritional inadequacy during childhood and adolescence not only delays growth but also creates a high risk of chronic diseases in adulthood. Children who experience stunting (defective growth and development from poor nutrition) or wasting (causing a person or a part of the body to become progressively weaker) are also likely to suffer diseases such as weak immunity and a lower response to vaccines, making them more exposed to various long-term health issues.

Furthermore, adolescents with histories of malnutrition have been documented to suffer from inattention, behavior problems, aggression toward peers, depression, school failure, and reduced IQ. Many of these adverse outcomes continue into adulthood and can even persist into the subsequent generation. Additionally, these outcomes are not limited to cases of growth stunting or protein–calorie malnutrition, but also include iron and other micronutrient deficiencies during early childhood that similarly impact brain, behavior, and cognition in adolescents.

According to a UNICEF survey, 11 percent of children in Kenya are underweight (2,624,000), with 4 percent (105,000) wasted. Nationwide, 26 percent of children under the age of five (250,000 children) are stunted. This rises to 46 percent in the Kitui and West Pokot countries.

The cause of poor nutrition is quite simply, poverty. Fifty percent of Kenyans or 25.5 million people live with food insecurity. In 2023, skyrocketing food prices have seriously exacerbated the problem and famine may be looming in some regions.

This is where NTS comes in, providing students with three fully balanced, nutritional meals daily. In a region where food shortages are common, NTS students (and staff) are served a well-balanced 2,000-calorie diet, receiving the daily nutrition and calories necessary to grow healthy bodies and minds. What’s more, students are even taking nutrition lessons, so they learn to create healthy food combinations and how to buy and prepare locally affordable foods.

And, as everyone at NTS is learning, food education is a long-term investment in healthy families and vibrant communities.

Sources:

https://www.unicef.org/kenya/nutrition#:~:text=Nutrition%20in%20numbers,doses%20of%20vitamin%20A%20supplement.

https://nyamboyotechnical.org/what-we-do/support-programs/

https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/Documents/Publications/FactSheet34en.pdf

https://www.powerofnutrition.org/the-impact-of-malnutrition/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK525242/#:~:text=Undernourished%20adolescents%20have%20commonly%20experienced,pancreatic%20cells%20that%20produce%20insulin.

https://data.unicef.org/how-many/how-many-children-under-18-are-there-in-kenya/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5374755/

Meet Lisa Van Dyke – When a Volunteer is MUCH more

You never know what an ad on VolunteerMatch will bring. For those who don’t know the organization (www.volunteermatch.org), it’s a nonprofit dedicated to matching nonprofits with willing volunteers. Through VolunteerMatch, NTS has worked with over 50 volunteers, all people who have donated their time and talents to help our school succeed.

In early 2021, NTS desperately needed a book illustrator for our new English As A Second Language (ESL) books. We were searching for someone able to create a visual style our Kenyan students could relate to. This was particularly tricky. Most volunteers through the site come from the US and Europe and aren’t familiar with Kenya. Also, we have 12 books, which meant a LOT of illustrations!

I’ll never forget the first time I met Lisa, which was by email. She wrote a beautiful email, presenting herself modestly as a book illustrator who had left the workforce and was dedicating her time to helping nonprofits through her art skills. She was so professional – submitting a
portfolio and showing, through the variety of her work, that she was willing to learn anything.

But what really struck me was how Lisa had a fresh perspective with every project. Lisa is, by choice, a whimsical designer. I was fascinated by how her view shifted with each project, maintaining a beautiful sense of whimsy and fun. Somehow, Lisa is able to mold her style to fit the words and stories she is illustrating.

Over the almost two years we’ve worked together, Lisa has brought the characters in our ESL books to life. We’ve begun to see them as real people in ways we never imagined possible as we created the texts. ESL text can often be dry, but as new illustrations arrive, they always lead me to reread the book and find the nuances that Lisa has revealed.

So, I started tell you about a volunteer. But really, Lisa is much more. She is an essential member of the NTS team. When we think of NTS staff, Lisa is always among us.

Please join everyone at NTS by thanking and celebrating Lisa Van Dyke whose work and presence is a grand part of making NTS so much more, every day.

Welcome, Madame Irene!

We are thrilled to announce the appointment of Irene Kwamboka, called Madame Irene by her students, as NTS’ Lead Instructor of Hairdressing. Madame Irene joined NTS in June 2021 as an assistant teacher and has led our students through their first NITA exam. We are delighted to see her take the big step of leading the Hairdressing Program!

Prior to joining NTS, she worked as a hair braiding specialist at Komina Salon in Kisii Town. She has also volunteered in the Hairdressing Department at Entanke Polytechnic.

Madame Irene, who is an advocate for women’s menstrual health rights, will lead our AFRIpads program in 2023. AFRIpads is an award-winning social enterprise, founded on the belief that menstrual health is a human right. NTS is partnering with AFRIpads to provide our students with reusable menstrual pads and reproductive education.

Madame Irene is a graduate of Kisii Polytechnic where she earned her Hairdressing and Beauty Therapy Diploma.

No More Week of Shame

By Natali Chinchaladze, NTS teen blogger

For those who have been following our blogs, you know that we have discussed menstrual health and menstrual poverty. We’ve found ways to help our students by collaborating with AFRIpads, a Uganda-based business providing reusable sanitary pads and menstrual education to women. As we say on our webpage, our mission is “providing free menstrual products to keep our female students in school and engaged in their daily activities, shifting attitudes that have limited their education and success.”[1]

As a 15-year-old who has also faced the physical transition from girl to woman, I can easily imagine how twice as hard it is for girls in Kenya. But I was shocked to learn that in Kenya, “a study sponsored by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation found 65% of women and girls were unable to afford pads, and only 32% of rural schools had a private place such as toilets for girls to change their period pads.”[2]

It is not easy to imagine what kinds of hardships NTS students have faced. It is even harder to imagine that this is considered “normal” because these students, their sisters, their mothers and grandmothers have never known anything else. But in our modern world, crude, improvised materials should never be an alternate way, should never be what we call a “solution”. Menstrual health should be a human right and access to proper menstrual products should not be an issue anymore.

I have learned that this problem is called “period poverty,” and it is deep and wide, going beyond the area of human health. Of course, when girls use pad alternatives such as “paper, old rags, and leaves,” they risk falling ill with reproductive and urinary tract infections, say health experts.

But let’s look at other aspects. Period poverty causes many girls to fall behind boys their age because they miss school while on their period. According to the statistics, ”if a girl misses 4 to 5 days each month, in the end, 20% of the academic year is skipped, just because of menstruation.”[1] It doesn’t take a genius to recognize that this is yet another factor contributing directly to gender inequality.

Then there is the issue of taxes put on period products. For those so poor they cannot afford 3 meals a day, this is inexcusable. Thankfully, Kenya is one of the few countries that has eliminated this tax.

And we can go further by combining the issues of education and menstrual poverty with economics. A lack of education for girls can lead to substantial losses in national wealth. “World Bank figures estimate that wider society and national economies can profit from better menstruation management: with every 1% increase in the proportion of women with secondary education, a country’s annual per capita income grows by 0.3%. Empowered women and dignified work are critical to a better business – a business that is more ethical and more productive. Other than improved finance, impacts in Bangladesh, Kenya, and India include behavior improvements in health and workplace gender equality outcomes, as well as improvements in self-esteem.”[3]

“Poverty, lack of access, and deeply held beliefs often prevent girls from attending school past the age of twelve.”[1] NTS works directly with families to grapple with these root issues. By addressing the economic realities of NTS families, by actively recruiting female students, by counseling families on the benefits of female education, and by providing AFRIpads and support programs, NTS is working to address past trauma and permanently change attitudes toward women and menstruation. At NTS, there is no more “Week of Shame”.

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