International Day of Charity 2021
Insight inspiration: #humanitarian ✏️📚
The United Nations recognizes, today, September 5 as the International Day of Charity. The International Day of Charity was established with the objective of sensitizing and mobilizing people, NGOs, and stakeholders all around the world to help others through volunteer and philanthropic activities. The date 5 September was chosen in order to commemorate the anniversary of the passing away of Mother Teresa of Calcutta, who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 “for work undertaken in the struggle to overcome poverty and distress, which also constitute a threat to peace”.
Today, I’m sharing with you my involvement with an organization that has been doing its part in tackling a problem that affects half the worlds population (girls/women) and serving those communities in need of support.
On Friday, August 24, 2021, myself and my husband Samuel, accompanied Zion Willam and her team, including instructors from Elle Peut Naidim; that provided the the educational instruction, to the Endevesi Secondary School in Mbuyuni Village in Arusha, Tanzania.
Upon our arrival, we were met and welcomed by the schools Headmaster and the teachers whose classes we would be presenting to. While in the Headmasters office, I was able to catch a glance of a list of the subjects taught at the school which include: English, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Basic Mathematics, Geography, Kiswahili, History and Civics. I momentarily took a trip down memory lane and was filled with excitement when remembering what it felt like to be a student and have an invited guest or speaker come to talk to the school. I was filled with excitement & anticipation.
We were allowed to spend 90 minutes to talk to the girls about School Girl Essentials mission of empowering and providing girls, like themselves, with education about their changing bodies, addressing the challenges they face culturally (as talk about menstruation is a social taboo among both their male peers as well as the larger society of men & women in Tanzania) and providing a solution to the economic hardship they may experience in being able to afford the necessary products for their ongoing monthly needs.
The reproductive health education portion focused on the menstrual cycle and menstrual hygiene utilizing interactive demonstrations about how to utilize, maintain and wash the reusable sanitary pads. They were taught about cleanliness and the prevention of fungal and bacteria infections. Diagrams of (both female and male) the reproductive system were presented to the students as they were taught about sexual reproductive organs, fertilization and pregnancy. It was a complete and extensive overview of vital information about their bodies and the changes taking place. Although conducted in Swahili, I was impressed by how interactive the instruction was as well as the light hearted approach given to such an important yet undervalued topic not widely taught in schools.
At the end of the instruction/training, each girl was provided an individual supply of reusable sanitary pads—which included 5 multi-colored reusable pads and a carrying case. Zion asked that I introduce myself to the girls. I introduced myself and shared that I am partnering with School Girl Essentials as a donor whose goal is to supply girls with sanitary pads and support them in their pursuit of education because I believe education is a fundamental right, not a privilege. Not having menstruation supplies shouldn’t be the cause of girls missing the opportunity to learn and attend school and thats why I contributed to providing supplies for them.
Unbeknownst to them, as both a gift and surprise, they were all given an assortment of pencil pouches that I purchased & brought from home (shout out to my husband for helping me prepare & pack and Velvatine Sykes for contributing to the pencil pouches!!) in an attempt to brighten their day and thank them for welcoming me to their school.
The pencil pouches included: stickers, pencils, highlighters, erasers, post-it notes, crayons, coloring pencils, pencil sharpener, paper clips, blank note cards and an interactive math or sudoku puzzle.
Their screams of excitement and happiness could be heard as we packed up to leave.
I left with gratitude in my heart for being able to contribute to the cause but also knowing that there are amazing individuals like Zion and her team making lasting change and was the reason I was able to be involved on this day. Zion’s mission with School Girl Essentials is to provide comprehensive menstrual & reproductive health eduction, make menstrual hygiene products accessible and provide a consistent supply of menstrual hygiene products and education to all schools in Arusha and beyond to the rural regions of Tanzania where access remains an issue.
Looking forward to my continued involvement with School Girl Essentials and championing girls education and health in Tanzania and around the world.
You can connect and learn more about School Girl Essentials via their website: Instagram: schoolgirl_essentials and if you’d like to contribute, there’s a Donate button on the website that allows you to securely Make a Donation.
