Meet the Board
Meet the Board
MARA CONSERVATION
encouraging empathy for other life
MLP Team in Morocco
Advisors in Morocco
Keeping At-Risk Girls in School
The Period Project
The Maasai Mara has one of the highest drop-out rates in Kenya, and the problem is especially acute for girls. Girls drop out in great numbers during their junior high and early high school years, and it coincides with getting their period. In fact, fewer than 10% of girls here enroll in high school, and fewer make it through. With no materials to manage their monthly cycle, even the most motivated student stays home 4 or 5 days a month, falls behind, and ends up quitting. Most of the families in the Mara live on a livestock economy and are not able to afford sanitary products, or it may not be a priority. When a girl drops out of school here, it can mean not only an end to her education and opportunities in life, but also FGM and early marriage to an older man.
It is heartbreaking to consider that this problem can be so easily addressed with the simple gift of sanitary supplies. At our Women's Work Center, we make high-quality reusable, washable sanitary kits to distribute free to girls in school, and they last up to 3 years. This is a healthy, equitable, economical, and environmentally responsible solution. We make the kits to be beautiful, something the girls are proud to have.
How We Make the Kits
These sanitary kits are made right in the Maasai community at our Women's Work Center. As a registered Affiliate of the Save a Girl (SaG) program of The Global Uplift Project, we use the SaG patterns and meet their standards, making kits that have proven successful for 1000s of girls in rural communities around the world, including in Kenya.
The women who make the kits are passionate about this mission and do beautiful work. This is their community. When you give to this project, you're helping both the girls and the women who make the kits — as your gift not only keeps girls in school but also puts income in the hands of the women so they can help their families too. The women report that their #1 priority with the income they earn is to keep their own kids in school, by paying school fees and other costs.
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The materials are cotton, so they are safe and comfortable. Sourced in Kenya.
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We choose fabrics and accessories that are beautiful, so the girls are joyful about receiving their kit. An important part of our program is for girls to feel pride in becoming a woman.
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This is an environmentally responsible solution, as it replaces the use of disposable make-shift supplies that litter communities and landscapes.