Learning was the getaway for me and a few others, but unfortunately, many others did not get that chance or opportunity.  

From my personal diary archives, some of you might have come across.” From the Heart of a Woman who knows what it is to fight for survival”. I take back myself to the early years. I could not understand why my best friend was not in school when we opened. Each day passed in anticipation that she would come. Little did I know I would never see her again. I still wonder where She is, is she alive? What is she doing now as a grown-up woman? Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and wonder, what if? Did I do enough!!!! what could I have done back then to help? Girl child early marriage does not only affect the Girl, but it also affects other girls she leaves behind. It’s an emotional trauma that makes me not wish this upon anyone else.

This is my story in brief. As I grew up in the rural areas, I was fortunate enough that my parents were in the Education sector, and we stayed at the school they taught. But my friends were not that fortunate and came from extremely poor backgrounds. I would tell them my experience of using tap water, flushing the toilets and street lights as most of them never had the opportunity to experience it. I remember giving them one side of my shoe for them just to experience how it feels like wearing a shoe. But obviously, it was just for a few minutes as the waiting queue became longer and longer each break time of trying a shoe.

I remember one school opening day, I searched for my best friend. Days passed by into months she never came back. At first, I was angry that she transferred without telling me or saying goodbye. I remember that a lot of children did not play with her because she used to have a strange smell during certain days of the month and a few people wanted to sit next to her.

It was only years later when I started having my period and was already in high school, that I realised what was happening years back. That young girl started her period, due to poverty, my friend might not have had any pads and God knows underwear as it was a luxury for many. I think she used cloth as sanitary pads, due to heat and moisture during the days of her period the blood will start to give out an odour. Since having soap was out of reach for many, I think she washed the cloth with just water. To my knowledge water was also difficult to get, your imagination is as good as mine. My heart goes out to her each time I imagined what She went through. I promised myself that I will be part of a solution in preventing such trauma from happening to other girls. Rumour had it that she was sent away to another village as a young bride since the family did not have enough food and girls’ education was not a priority.

How could this have been allowed!! she was only a child!! what could I have done to prevent this from happening? It’s with sadness that many of the girls are now women living in extreme poverty. A lot still feel that the community failed them, many forced into early marriages, others now widowed, and the current pandemic worsened what was already damaged.

My goal is to improve household food security for women and young girls through the introduction of community-level simple projects like nutrition-sensitive backyard gardening, tree planting, community fruit tree planting and encourage women to run self-sustainable environmental profitable projects. We will also educate them on correct basic record-keeping to secure their income.

We aim to empower women and girls to start self-sustaining projects in their communities. We also wish to be as much Environmentally friendly as possible in whatever we embark on in our communities, this will be a progressive objective we will take until we achieve it. It might take a while to educate our communities, but we will achieve it.

It will be insane to drink dirty water or putting a cloth during your period, worse off booking a holiday to an area prone to diseases like cholera. But to many it’s never an option it’s their day-to-day life. Your generous contribution will enable us to help these women take a positive new journey free from hunger and lack. Collectively it’s possible and it’s achievable.  

A special dedication to every girl that did not have a choice and to every mother fighting to feed her children.

Thank you for your generous donation