Vunja Ukimya
Break the Silence
We work with schools and communities in Hai Kilimanjaro, Karatu and Lake Eyasi to provide mentorship and inspirational talks to girls to spark the desire to chase their dreams and fulfil their potential.
As the lead facilitator, Leo encourages and inspires girls to dream and become whomever they want in life. We trust that Leos’ story of breaking barriers will inspire girls to work hard and pursue their dreams.
We also acknowledge we must not only inspire but also remove barriers that prevent girls from realising their goals and aspirations.
We focus on lessening the stigma and shame associated with menstruation and girls often isolate themselves at home during menstruation even missing school. We hope to break the silence around menstruation and provide girls with quality and safe reusable sanitary pads which will last them for a whole school year.
By creating girls clubs we train the students to become peer educators at their schools and community.
We also provide educational materials on menstruation and train teacher to mentor the school club and provide free reusable sanitary pads to girls.
We believe by starting to talk about menstruation and providing education about puberty, girls will understand their bodies better and this will help them to grow healthy and increase their chances of pursuing their dreams.
This project is part of our social responsibility and will be funded by profit from our business.
Our project area is in northern Tanzania, from the foothills of Mt. Kilimanjaro, to the Maasai community in Lake Natron and across the Ngorongoro area. We also serve Lake Eyasi region, the home of the Hadza – Hunter gatherer community. We currently partner with five Schools with the potential to expand to more schools and women’s groups surrounding the project area. We aim to reach 300 students and 200 women from women’s groups by the end of 2024.
You can read more about our Vunja Ukimya project here.
