More than 40,000 students will benefit from free sanitary pads in Meru County after a non-governmental organisation launched a waste paper collection centre at Kaaga Primary School.
Beyond Poverty Africa Network, intends to recycle the waste paper for production of sanitary towels.
Speaking during the official opening of the waste collection bank, the CEO Dominic Muriuki said the waste papers collected from schools in the county will also be recycled to produce tissue papers targeted to benefit needy school going girls in the region.
“Our greatest mission is to conserve the environment. We are calling on all schools and offices in the region not to burn papers anymore and instead allow us to collect them for this noble idea of helping the Kenyan girl,” said Muriuki.
Accompanied by communication director Jacklyn Moria and president of Rotary Club Meru CK Otieno, Muriuki appealed to all head of schools to positively support the idea that he said will not only keep the environment clean but also give a smile to needy girls in the society.
While donating sanitary towels to a section of children at Kaaga Primary School, he said they are targeting to start a similar project in Tharaka Nithi and Isiolo counties before the end of the year.
“We are also targeting marginalized areas where we feel poverty has greatly contributed to Kenyan girls lacking sanitary towels and forcing some to miss school during the menstrual cycle,” he said.
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Otieno also appealed to the Ministry of Education to allow schools to donate the 8.4.4 reading materials which were replaced by the current Competent Based Curriculum (CBC) to the charity organisation instead of wasting them.
“We are requesting the government also to donate such books to such charitable work for reuse instead of being stored in schools and eventually they become waste,” he noted.
The CEO noted that for the programme to succeed they will soon open a digital online data bank where schools will give information and location to ease collection hiccup.
“We are launching an online data bank for waste collection where everybody will access the information and give location to help us collect the waste papers in areas faced with transport challenges,” he noted.
The organisation also appealed to the county government of Meru, well-wishers and other environmental stakeholders to come in and support the initiative that is aimed at supporting more than 300 girls in every school.
The organisation is also currently supporting needy children to access education through waste programme recycling in Meru, Kilifi, Kwale and Mombasa counties.
“We have trained about 40 women in Meru and we are continuing to educate our women on how to collect waste papers, plastic and metal waste which they sell to companies. In return they get tissue papers, sanitary towels, water pipes and farming tools among others.
Out of this venture, together we support needy children to go to school,” said Muriuki.
He added, “We are targeting to open more centers across the country because our focus is to fight poverty by using locally available waste materials and transforming them into money and useful products.”
By John Majau
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