Vella Nyoni
LIMPOPO – THERE is a saying that goes ‘it takes a village to raise a child’ and that is true, especially when it is a female child.
According to the department of education, the average girl misses 50 days of schooling per year due to not being able to afford sanitary towels when she menstruates.
This is where Educate A Girl comes in. This is a non-profit organisation (NGO) that was started by Manastacia Matjekane, Jennifer Malebati, Maidi Monareng and Matimba Makaringe. This initiative was started last year and specifically targets young girls in the villages around Limpopo.
The team identifies a village and asks teachers to identify girls from disadvantaged backgrounds. These will be girls who are either the heads of their households or whose parents are unemployed. A workshop is then organised during which the girls are given hampers that include three packets of sanitary towels, two hygiene soaps, two roll-on deodorants, a toothbrush and toothpaste.
Educate A Girl held its first workshop in January this year in Bokgapa village near Tzaneen.
Since the organisation is an NGO, it mainly relies on individuals and companies to donate the hampers given to the learners.
Monareng said the response by the public had been admirable. “When we started the initiative, we never knew that we would get such a response. The number of items we have received from people has been amazing,” Monareng said.
She added, however, that as an NGO, they were faced with their fair share of challenges. “We do not have any sponsors so we rely on the public to donate; it is not easy but we are determined,” Monareng said.
Even though the core aim of the organisation is to assist young women with their sanitation needs, the organisation is determined to do more.
According to the team, they also want to offer career guidance and bursaries but this will only be achieved if they get the funding they require to make this happen.
“We want companies to step in and help us empower these girls and make this project a sustainable one. We want to show them that education is important and hard work pays off,” Monareng added.
Currently they are planning a donation matric dance at which people will be asked to donate dresses to the young gr. 12 girls who have been working hard all year and have obtained good marks, but cannot afford a dress for their matric dance.
For more information or to assist, contact Monareng by sending an e-mail to stindimonare@gmail.com
