Social and health situation of women and girls
The village of Talek is located in the Masai Mara Nature Reserve and has an official population of 1500 people. The unofficial population of the village and the surrounding villages is three times higher. There is a 7-year-old school in the village where 500 girls and 1200 boys from Talek and the surrounding area are taught.
A large proportion of girls from Talek do not go to school. In the large, often polygamous families, the girls take on the housework and care of their younger siblings at an early age; there is also a lack of money for school equipment.
The situation of girls and young women in the Masai Mara is very difficult. Education about menstruation, sexuality, pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases does not take place at all in the family and only insufficiently in schools. In addition, there is a traditional, backward-looking view of the world that sees women solely in the role of mother and wife.
With the onset of puberty, the situation becomes considerably more difficult. School girls do not go to school for days on end because families do not have the money for the monthly hygiene articles. The girls enter into sexual relationships with men who can cover the cost of the monthly sanitary products.
This results in unwanted early pregnancies – in addition to the risk of sexually transmitted diseases. Very few of them are able to return to school later or stay with their families.
Many of them are married off to an older married man as a second, third or fourth wife. The position of these young mothers in a new family with a foreign child is extremely difficult.
The number of unwanted early and very early pregnancies in Talek and the surrounding area is 100 per year!
Our goal
Social-bag.com e.V. aims to intervene early in the development of the problem. We want to enable the girls to go to school for as long as possible or to stay with their families of origin without becoming sexually dependent.
The disposal of monthly sanitary products is another problem in the community; there is no garbage collection and the ecologically very difficult to degrade sanitary pads end up on the streets and increase the already existing risk of spreading diseases and infections.
We have therefore decided to start a pilot project in Talek: producing reusable sanitary pads on site and distributing them free of charge to the girls.
Our concept
For the pilot project, we decided to find a local tailor shop that is able to sew the monthly bandages. Linet Grace and her mother work in the Maasai Mara Tailor Shop. They produce various textile garments, including school uniforms for girls.
The fabric for the tailoring is ordered in Nairobi, as are the necessary buttons.
After completion, the bandages are taken to the Talek Medical Clinic Services, where they are accepted by the social worker working there and the seamstress receives her wages.
Half of the finished pads are taken to the pharmacy, the rest remain at the clinic.
When girls visit the clinic or go to the pharmacy, they are approached by our local partners. They are shown the pads and told how to use and care for them. The girls receive the pads free of charge. With proper care, a set of reusable pads can last up to two years.