“The girl-child is really suffering.”

So said Michael, a teacher in rural Kenya during a recent interview. After a decade of guiding students in the impoverished district, he knew the children’s struggles all too well. Poverty-induced desperation leads to all sorts of hardship, but girls face unique challenges.

Many are woefully unprepared for their first period; for a child who doesn’t know what’s coming, sudden, unexplained bleeding during class can be a frightening, embarrassing experience. Girls desperately searching for a way to maintain a semblance of normalcy during menstruation find that menstrual pads are prohibitively expensive for families barely earning enough to survive, a frustrating fact that causes even more embarrassment.

The result is nothing less than devastating. Lost time in school leads to lower grades and higher dropout rates, which lead to difficulty finding a job. As a result, many of these girls find themselves forced into sexual exploitation just to survive. Social stigma about menstruation only compounds their suffering by complicating their developing sense of self-worth.

Girls on their period sometimes approach teachers like Michael for help, but many small schools simply don’t have the resources to help. With no menstrual products to distribute and no alternatives for care, teachers are left with few options. “More often than not… we are forced to send them home,” Michael said sadly.

An unfulfilled need

It’s a serious problem facing millions around the globe. The World Bank estimates that 500 million women and girls don’t have access to menstrual products or proper facilities for menstrual hygiene. That means that items like tampons, pads or even sanitary restrooms are simply not available for those who desperately need them.

For these girls, it’s impossible to continue life as normal when menstruating. Those who do try to keep attending school may try to make do by using less sanitary methods to control their flow, like toilet paper or cloth. We’ve had some reports of girls even using leaves to get by. Such makeshift methods are not only ineffective but can lead to dangerous infections.

More often, girls are forced to simply put their lives on hold when menstruating, halting school or work completely until the bleeding stops.

But access to products is only half the battle: a lack of education and prevalent social stigma make menstruating immeasurably more difficult.

Alone in a crowd

Many girls don’t even know what to expect when their first period begins.

Uneducated children find themselves in uncharted territory. Frightened by the sudden bleeding and reeling from unfamiliar feelings, an already difficult time of life becomes unbearable when coupled with community stigma in under-resourced schools. “A girl going through difficulty during her menses may have anxiety or feel neglected. They [often] feel unloved,” Mercy, a Destiny Rescue caseworker, said.

Uncertain and afraid, these children often withdraw socially and mentally, worried about how to maintain their menstruation even as they hide it from others. “Low concentration in class leads to them having poor grades in school,” Mercy points out.

Immature cruelty from other students only compounds the pressure.

The domino effect

In impoverished communities, academic failure reaps dire consequences. Girls who cannot complete school are left with very few employment options, increasing their risk of falling into sexual exploitation to survive. But Chase says that even girls determined to stay in school aren’t safe.

“These girls will need money to purchase (pads),” Chase said. “If she cannot afford it, then someone else will (pay) to use her so that she can buy that sanitary towel.”

The need for menstrual products is a vulnerability predators are all too willing to exploit. “The (sex buyers) prey on that need and offer money for sex, which, beyond the exploitation, often leads to STIs or HIV… it can also lead to early pregnancy,” Chase explained.

Early pregnancy can then start the cycle all over again in a new generation.

Breaking the cycle

To break that cycle, Destiny Rescue’s Kenya team started the pad project, a campaign that supplies vital pads and life-changing education to students in impoverished communities.

Our local team travels from school to school, giving presentations that de-stigmatise menstruation and educate girls on proper care during their periods. After the class, the team donates vital hygiene items—like soap and pads—to the school to disseminate to those in need. “We have visited so many schools, and we plan to visit more,” Chase said. “We can’t give much, but we try to give to those highly vulnerable ones.”

The results reach much further than just meeting an immediate need. The classes, in particular, can transform a struggling child’s perspective of herself. “They learn to accept themselves: how they are and how their body changes,” Mercy said.

That acceptance doesn’t stop with the child. This education is helping to alter entrenched misconceptions for entire communities. “We have reduced stigmatisation and shame in the community,” Mercy explained. “Now the community knows that menstrual hygiene is not something to be ashamed of.”

In fact, several children, emboldened by our encouraging team members, have actually come forward to report suffering sexual abuse or exploitation, leading to their rescue!

Most importantly, it’s opening doors for girls who once faced imminent risk of exploitation. Unhindered by the need for hygienic products, girls can attend school and study. Freedom to pursue their dreams rather than just survive has opened new worlds of possibility.

“There’s a girl who wants to be a doctor, a girl who wants to be an engineer. Their dream is now (attainable) because what is really affecting them is cared for,” Chase said passionately. “This girl will see her dream nearer.”

For his part, Michael is thrilled that his students are getting what they need. “The team is doing quite a wonderful job helping the vulnerable children,” he said after they came to his school. “We have cases (of pads) here. We thank the team that came last week and provided the girls with more than enough pads. May God bless you.”

To truly rescue a child, we must first address the vulnerabilities that lead to exploitation. Those vulnerabilities are different everywhere: from ignorance about online grooming to financial desperation to societal pressures.

Our team in Kenya pinpointed a vulnerability and is doing something about it. Now that you know about this dire need, you can help too. By donating menstrual products to shelters, food pantries and local nonprofits, you can help struggling women and girls in the community get the products they need to thrive every day of the month. And by talking openly about period poverty, you can help normalise the conversation around menstruation while de-stigmatising victims’ plight.

Would you join them in helping provide a complete, holistic approach to rescuing children from sexual exploitation and human trafficking? Your donation will enable our teams worldwide to develop responses tailored to the needs of their specific communities.

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