Support for girls in Zambia

Project Details

In 2013, Project Luangwa started a pilot project "Girls’ Club" at Mfuwe Day Secondary School. It was kept small and catered to girls sponsored through the organisation. Club members had mixed backgrounds and their varied experiences were typical of girls throughout Africa. Some had been raped or coerced into having sex - sometimes by teachers or members of their own families; others had given birth to babies as early as 13 years old; some had been forced to find a man to pay their school fees or for uniform or school stationery; some had mothers who were prostitutes. All of them came from a background where women and girls are assumed to have less value and intelligence, and were expected to do more chores than their brothers. However, they all had the same important things in common: they were bright, caring girls who deserved the chance to reach their potential.

The Project Luangwa Girls’ Club meets weekly and has proved so successful in building and encouraging greater self-esteem and confidence that we have been asked by head teachers to expand this pilot club to all other girls at the local secondary school and to other schools in the area. At the club, the girls do empowerment exercises, talk about problems, have guest speakers, learn crafts and IT, learn about our bodies and how to deal with everyday issues as well. We believe that the girls need to explore this for themselves, and see our role as facilitators tot he process.

Menstrual Hygiene Management

Many girls in rural areas have no access to or cannot afford sanitary wear and instead may use rags or strips of cloth. This often means that once a girl reaches puberty, she may miss a week of school each month – that’s three months education a year, or 25% of her education over four years at secondary level. To address this problem, we are developing washable, reusable menstrual hygiene products. We've done plenty of local research, as well as looking at how washable pads are accepted in other cultures in Africa and around the world. We've looked at different designs too; and will finally go into production in 2015. Local ladies will be trained to sew these pads giving widows or HIV/Aids victims the chance of earning a wage. Pads will be sold around Zambia to those who can afford it and offered for free via our girls’ clubs.