The Vulnerable Women Pads project update
The Vulnerable Women Pads project – This has been a time bomb because it was undertones between women and girls in desperate need of pads and food for their children, but when it came out through VPM, we realized how heavy and real the problem was affecting women and mothers psychologically and economically a problem brought by effects of the COVID 19 pandemic.
The VPM volunteers reach out to the needy school girls who fail to attend classes for a week or so due to periods that come when they cannot afford to buy sanitary pads. These girls are invited to our church for seminars covering sex education, reproductive health, hygiene and family planning for the women. This helps to educate families on the number of children they can have and reproductive knowledge to the girls. VPM staffs are the teachers of these seminars before sanitary pads are distributed, bread and foodstuff for street children and mothers who are not a part of those who benefit with our daily feeding programme. There is an outcry from the poor families from the slums of Korogocho for more sanitary pads for girls and women as the numbers are growing each month beyond VPMs financial abilities. Street children too need more ½ a loaf of bread to put in their empty stomachs. We would like to appeal to all our supporters to stretch their merciful hands towards supporting the vulnerable women pads project and the Bread for children project of Korogocho.
When VPM started this project, we first distributed 148 pieces of sanitary pads but now every month, we distribute over 200 sanitary pads each month to the very needy women and girls and they are not enough. We also distribute 360 loaves of bread to the Bread for children project, to street children of Korogocho every week. The hunger at dumpsite of Korogocho where street children and families scavenged for valuables was brought by acute shortage of lorries to bring rubbish from hotels in town.
This is also another economic problem brought from top (the rich) to bottom (the poor) where Korogocho families benefited from the functions of hotels and other industries that stopped operating because of the COVID 19 pandemic because of the shortage of bread and foodstuff.
We are forced to let children share the bread for it to be enough. We reach out to the starving families and street children every week with; 50 kgs of sugar, 25kgs of rice, 36 pieces of bar soap, 50 kgs maize floor and 22 litres cooking oil.
