Covid-19: Poor Subukia girls exchanging ‘sex for sanitary towels’
Nominated MCA Isabella Makori (right) with girls at Kamemo Primary School at Munanda location, Subukia sub-county, Nakuru after she donated sanitary towels and soap on August 23, 2020.
What you need to know:
- According to girls’ rights activists in the region, most girls cannot afford sanitary towels.
The girls said that most of them from Munanda Location were not lucky to get casual jobs in the Kazi Mtaani initiative.
As the effects of Covid-19 take toll on school children, an increasingly dangerous exchange is taking place in Subukia, Nakuru County.
Access to sanitary towels is a major challenge for many young girls in the area and Covid-19 has worsened the situation for vulnerable families.
According to girls’ rights activists in the region, most girls cannot afford sanitary towels.
Hundreds of teenage girls from poor backgrounds are engaging in premarital sex to get sanitary towels and this is exposing them to high risk of contracting HIV/Aids and early pregnancies.
Some young men in the region have taken advantage of the poor girls’ situation to sexually abuse them. At the same time cases of gender-based violence have also increased.
Rendered jobless
Some of the girls said their parents, who have been rendered jobless by the Covid-19 pandemic, are unable to buy them sanitary towels as they have been rendered jobless by Covid-19 pandemic.
“It’s not our fault. Mensuration is often a difficult moment for most girls and since some of our parents are jobless due to Covid-19 and are unable to buy sanitary towels, we are forced to exchange sex to get money to buy the towels,” said one of the girls at Kamemo Primary School on Sunday.
The girls said that most of them in Munanda Location were not lucky to get casual jobs in the Kazi Mtaani programme.
“It is sad that we are only seeing girls from other locations in Subukia getting these jobs but here at Munanda none of the girls is working in the Kazi Mtaani initiative,” said another girl.
Kazi Mtaani
Some young men in the location also claimed that they were not considered for the Kazi Mtaani jobs.
Nominated Member of Nakuru County Assembly Isabella Makori urged the government to set aside more funds to buy sanitary towels for poor girls during the pandemic.
“This sex for sanitary towels scandal is robbing young girls of their dignity, and I urge the national government to set aside more funds to buy the sanitary towels” said Ms Makori while distributing the sanitary towels and soap to poor girls at Kamemo Primary School in Munanda Location in Subukia sub-county on Sunday.
She thanked Governor Lee Kinaynjui administration for distributing sanitary towels to poor girls during the Covid -19 period.
