Sending greetings from a rainy Uganda (we're again in the midst of rainy season!) and hoping that this email finds you safe and well!
Thank you so much for your interest and support for our work. We're not quite sure where the last few months have gone - apologies for the delay in sending this email- but we hope you're enjoying the relaxing restrictions that we are seeing in many countries around the world.
Unfortunately in January and February we made the difficult decision to put our trainings on hold, to ensure safety during the election and campaigning season. With Corona virus restrictions continuing to have been relaxed and eased we are so grateful that we have been able to resume our meetings and trainings in communities.
We have been enjoying different small groups in communities and love seeing the joy on people's faces as they learn the new skill of being able to make their own reusable sanitary pads. The trainings are a lot of fun and we are so happy that we have been able to reach 352 volunteers!
Really excitingly we held interviews to find someone who we can start to hand the project over to and we got to meet the lovely Scholastica. Scholastica (top left photo above and featured in the video) has been with us for the last 6 weeks and it's been so much fun to run trainings together and to gradually hand this over to her. My hope is that in the next week or two, that she will be able to run the trainings on her own and I'm excited to also be sending her to run training sessions in Women's health, in different community groups, which she will be starting next week.
I have loved seeing Scholastica's enthusiasm and the sense of fun she brings to trainings as well as the confidence she exudes as she speaks!
Whilst our main target groups have continued to be women, it has been a lot of fun to have more boys and men involved. My highlight from a training last weekend was a young man telling us that it was important for him to be informed about menstrual health and how to make pads, so that he could help his sisters and his future wife (also featured in the video)!
In Uganda, men are usually the ones who make decisions and who allocate resources in the household but they often have limited knowledge of women's health (particularly those who did not have the opportunity to go to school). This made his statement and enthusiasm to help his female relatives and loved ones super special and significant!
So lastly we'd love to say a massive 'thank you' for your interest and your support for the Every Girl project! We know that all we do is only possible through your partnership and we can't wait to share our news next quarter!