Chumvi Days For Girls’ Business Keeps Girls In School

From laikipia.go.ke

There is nothing as traumatizing for a girl child as quitting school because of menstrual hygiene.

It is for this reason that a group of people from the northern part of Laikipia stepped out to mitigate the number of school dropouts for reasons related to monthly periods.

The organization, Chumvi Days for Girls, specializes in making and selling washable sanitary towels which help school-going girls from regular problems in maintaining their health.

The sanitary pads from the enterprise are washable, more economical, more comfortable to use, and can be reused for up to five years. A person who buys such a commodity may go without buying another one for the next five years.

Chumvi Days for Girls is not limited to the pads, but also makes washable baby diapers, uniforms, masks and other related items and has been in operation since 2014.

Each of the sixteen-member enterprises has a specific role. Each of the fifteen women sews different components, while the only man, Lestan Kimiri, is the enterprise leader. He is also the Il Ngwesi Conservancy Community Projects Coordinator.

They package their products in up to five categories depending on the customer preferences. The packages cost between Ksh. 300 to Ksh. 1,000.

The group has the capacity to produce 200 high-end products daily.

Raw materials for making various products come from the local dealers, while others come from the Chumvi Days for Girls Resource Center and Rivatex.

The enterprise is driving the ‘ sex for pads’ notion to extinction as there is no dependency on heinous men who may use young girls for sex in exchange for the pads.

Every time we sell our products, we teach the users how to take care of them. We also teach young girls how to maintain hygiene and ways of detecting and predicting their due dates. said Kimiri.

He added that the group is also engaging men to teach ladies’ hygiene and not to leave the topic to only the women.

The once a self-help group now operates under Days for Girls International. It is situated next to Chumvi Dispensary and Chumvi primary school in Mukogodo East Ward, Laikipia North Sub County.

The group operates under the Il Ngwesi Conservancy. So far, the group has reached over 10,000 girls and women in an effort to promote sustainable menstrual health among women and girls in Kenya.

Chumvi Days for Girls Self Help Group’s market is not only from the locals but has extended to all neighboring counties and sometimes internationally.

The County Government of Laikipia supports such innovative ideas through the Laikipia Innovation and Enterprise Development. It has exposed the group to trade fair exhibitions and marketing.