Daraja Academy, an all-girls school, is a Global Concern based in Kenya that aims to empower girls by providing them with an education.
The Twala community is a local tribe in Kenya that UWC students and Daraja students visit on their annual trips to the school. Generation. Education. Period. was investigating the possibility of providing our sanitary pads to the Twala community, as this tribe is only made up of women. Unfortunately we realised that communication would be a problem as not only was there language barriers, but also the long distance between them and Daraja. Additionally, our role would primarily be raising funds through several events to provide sanitary pads for these women, and therefore UWC students will not gain any service learning.
Home to 118 girls, Daraja Academy provides their students with disposable plastic sanitary pads for the girls to manage their periods. Generation. Education. Period. was interested in a possible relationship with Daraja by providing reusable sanitary pads to be more sustainable. However with feedback from other surveys, it has come to our attention that girls would rather use disposable sanitary pads instead of reusable ones for convenient reasons. This remains a possibility in the future. However the service learning may not be sufficient enough for UWC students if we continue on with this route as every lesson we will only be planing for a few events in one year.
– Written by Brooke Cohen on behalf of G.E.P
