For 14-year-old Ilhan Jimcaale Abdi, a pupil at Dhobley Major Faculty, life has taken a dramatic flip for the higher.
Since receiving hygiene kits, Ilhan has skilled a profound transformation that has boosted her confidence and enabled her to focus on her schooling.
“Earlier than the ATMIS Feminine Engagement Workforce launched us to this system, we stayed at residence. We had a destructive notion of schooling however now this has modified, and we attend college usually. We’re grateful to ATMIS for enabling us to remain at school by way of this program,” Ilhan says.
“I can now concentrate on my research and dream about my future,” she provides with a large smile on her face.
Ilhan is amongst 270 ladies at Dhobley Major Faculty who’ve benefitted from a three-year mentorship program led by the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) Feminine Engagement Workforce (FET) and the Dhobley Girls’s Affiliation.
The mentorship classes concentrate on private hygiene and self-care. Every participant learns find out how to handle her menstrual cycle and receives a hygiene package containing important merchandise equivalent to sanitary pads, cleaning soap, and different supplies obligatory for sustaining correct hygiene.
“By means of our steady mentorship and academic applications, we’re not simply offering ladies with hygiene kits however giving them the data and encouragement to confidently care for his or her well being and in addition make them conscious that they will obtain something they need by schooling,” says Capt. Valarie Shikuku, the ATMIS Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) Gender Officer.
For a lot of ladies in Dhobley, menstruation has traditionally hindered their schooling, with many lacking college throughout their durations on account of a scarcity of assets, data, and societal stigma. Nonetheless, the collaboration between the ATMIS FET and Dhobley Girls’s Affiliation is addressing these challenges.
“ATMIS has helped us lots with our schooling, offering studying supplies and private hygiene kits and for all this, we’re grateful,” says Ikhlaas Ibrahim Arte, a pupil and beneficiary.
Beneath this system, the ATMIS KDF Feminine Engagement Workforce and the Dhobley Girls’s Affiliation have been elevating consciousness and offering sensible assist to women and girls in the area people. The initiative has empowered girls and ladies in Dhobley, making certain that ladies can attend college with out the concern of embarrassment associated to menstruation.
“Final 12 months, many women returned to high school with elevated confidence, and this 12 months, much more ladies are becoming a member of our applications, motivated by the data that they gained’t miss class due to menstruation,” says Fatima Abdi, chairperson of the Dhobley Girls’s Affiliation.
“By offering entry to menstrual hygiene merchandise and fostering a supportive atmosphere, we’ve eliminated a serious barrier to their schooling,” she provides, referring to the low enrollment charges for ladies in Somalia’s Federal Member States (FMS) on account of social, financial and cultural causes.
As a part of this system, the ATMIS KDF Feminine Engagement Workforce and the Dhobley Girls’s Affiliation not too long ago held a mentorship session at Dhobley Major Faculty to commemorate World Kids’s Day. They engaged the women on private hygiene, and self-care – vital subjects that straight affect their college attendance and educational success.
The mentors additionally donated balls, soccer kits and books to boys on the college to create consciousness about ladies’ proper to schooling and destigmatize menstruation.
“We prolong our heartfelt appreciation to the ATMIS Feminine Engagement Workforce for his or her outstanding efforts in elevating consciousness amongst our feminine college students. The dear info and steerage they supply has tremendously empowered our college students, equipping them with the data to take care of themselves higher,” stated Sadia Madobe, a trainer at Dhobley Major Faculty.
By means of the mentorship program, the ATMIS KDF Feminine Engagement Workforce and the Dhobley Girls’s Affiliation purpose to extend enrolment of women and decrease college dropouts.
The purpose is to extend ladies’ transition to greater schooling, boosting the variety of girls professionals and fostering long-term financial empowerment. This may create a technology of women and girls who’re geared up to steer, thrive, and contribute to prosperity of their communities.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS).
