An Appeal for Girls in Africa

Hello everyone. Today, I make an appeal to you for the girls in Africa. Join us in ensuring that few girls drop out of school due to simple basic needs. Education is not only key to a better life; it is a step to opportunities in life. It is a basic need for general survival and a life of non-dependence. We may not meet all their needs, but taking care of a simple aspect of their lives goes a long way. It takes just one simple gesture and one caring person to make a difference.
 
There are girls in Africa who face serious sanitation problems. They drop out of school because they do not have sanitary pads to wear while going to school. They get embarrassed during menstruation and cannot bear the misery of being in school without pads. Because these girls come from communities where matters related to sexuality and even reproduction are rarely discussed, they end up dropping out of school.

My experience with these girls has taught me that they are as smart as any girl or boy out there. All they need are conditions to enable their education to take place. Whenever I visit Africa, I go to school and talk to the teachers and girls to find out who has dropped out of school and why. This fact has been reinforced by studies that have shown how many girls drop out of school in order to get married and to avoid embarrassment when they reach puberty because they fear to be embarrassed when they undergo menstruation periods.

Puberty and menstruation are natural experiences. There girls should not feel inhibited by natural conditions to not go to school. I wish governments in Africa would do a lot to help these girls in these matters. Unfortunately, very little is being done. This is where my WISO organization comes in and where your support comes in.

 As a non-profit organization, all we are doing is fundraise and buy pads which we distribute to girls in various schools to ensure that they don’t drop out of school for such a flimsy reason. With support, we hope to equip each girl with pads to take them a year. We can then build on this yearly. There are many schools in Africa as you know. So we hope to begin this initiative in one country and encourage group formation to continue the program. Hopefully, this can make a change in some of these girls’ lives. If we get enough support, we can help them in other areas of need.

It is for this reason we need your support. We solicit grants but these are hard to come by. We count on individual support more because these come from the heart. We do not claim to end their problems. We can’t. Just a simple gesture to keep them going on with their struggles is enough for a start. That is how I see it. Whatever gift you give us, $5, $10, $20 $100 all count and will definitely make a huge change in these girls’ lives. We count on your help and hope you can also help spread the word. If you donate any amount $20 and up, you receive a T-shirt or a beautiful tote bag from us. You will also receive pictures of our distribution events to these girls.

Visit our Facebook and webpage to support us. As I indicated earlier, the need is much more than we know. Visit www.wiso2011.org and click the donation button. Oh our Facebook also has the donation button. You can contact us at wiso2011@gmail.com for details on how serious the problem is or for any other questions you have. We appreciate your help. www.wiso2011.org