Did you know that without health education, girls are less likely to attend school during their menstrual cycle which creates gaps in a girl’s education? Girls will miss up to 20% of the school year, causing them to fall behind and sometimes drop out of school completely.
On our recent mission trip to Uganda, we focused on empowering and educating girls and women. We held a 2-week training during which we provided our girls with menstrual kits, but also taught them how to sew so that they could continue to make their own even after we had gone. We taught them how to make soap to both be used and sold. Perhaps most importantly, however, we taught them about female empowerment.
Gorretti was one of the young women who was able to attend our training. She is 25 years old and was too shy to even stand up and introduce herself on the first day of the training.
In a historically patriarchal society, women like Gorretti are often looked down upon and cast aside. In Uganda, 58% of women ages 15-19 years old have experienced physical or sexual violence. Women are treated with so little respect that they fear to even speak. This made us realize how important it was to empower our girls during training.
When the training was over Gorretti said, "Madam Jolly, what you have done for us, we can’t thank you enough. Right now I feel so strong, I feel empowered to go back to my village and teach my friends and neighbors the lessons you have taught me. I want to empower other people, and my dream is to become the Speaker of Parliament.”
These girls have hopes and dreams that we want to help them reach. With your support we can help more girls like Gorretti realize these dreams.