By Judy Waguma
The wave of Sauti ya Wanawake in the coastal province is a force to reckon with.
Translated as the voice of women, this group has made a tremendous milestone in giving the women an accent into a society that is riddled by culture and religion, and so often do not allow much priority to the woman. They are also advocating for the girl’s right to education.
This group of women, one day sat, and reflected on their status in the society. Their major concern was the lack of involvement in development issues and also the schools drop out levels of the girl child.
After much deliberations and consultations, Sauti ya Wanawake was born, in 2001.
“We started with around 50 women, as a forum to help the women in various needs in Kisauni, a region in coast Province,” says Binti Ali, the chair lady of the group.
Binti Ali says that when they met, they discovered there was just too much that was not being discussed on women issues. “Our biggest concern, though, was to remove the silence, and give the women in Mombasa a unifying voice,” she says.
They discovered that the reason owing to their suppressed voices was due to the staunch culture and religion practiced in the area.
“We wanted to be free, to talk about everything that is of importance to us,” they say. The issues that concerned them the most were like politics, education, and other daily matters.
To them, they had had it. They were tired of adding their numbers to meetings and then being left out during times for key decision-making.
“We decided that enough is enough, because we also wanted to be involved in matters that affect us as the women of Mombasa,” adds Binti Ali.
The wave of Sauti ya Wanawake in the coastal province is a force to reckon with.
Translated as the voice of women, this group has made a tremendous milestone in giving the women an accent into a society that is riddled by culture and religion, and so often do not allow much priority to the woman. They are also advocating for the girl’s right to education.
This group of women, one day sat, and reflected on their status in the society. Their major concern was the lack of involvement in development issues and also the schools drop out levels of the girl child.
After much deliberations and consultations, Sauti ya Wanawake was born, in 2001.
“We started with around 50 women, as a forum to help the women in various needs in Kisauni, a region in coast Province,” says Binti Ali, the chair lady of the group.
Binti Ali says that when they met, they discovered there was just too much that was not being discussed on women issues. “Our biggest concern, though, was to remove the silence, and give the women in Mombasa a unifying voice,” she says.
They discovered that the reason owing to their suppressed voices was due to the staunch culture and religion practiced in the area.
“We wanted to be free, to talk about everything that is of importance to us,” they say. The issues that concerned them the most were like politics, education, and other daily matters.
To them, they had had it. They were tired of adding their numbers to meetings and then being left out during times for key decision-making.
“We decided that enough is enough, because we also wanted to be involved in matters that affect us as the women of Mombasa,” adds Binti Ali.
Today Sauti ya Wanawake, boasts of over 1000 members and they are still growing. They have a steering committee that comprise of 36 members. Of that only 21 are active and have helped steer this movement.
Within their activities, they have sub committees that deal with health, advocacy and child and human rights as well as, HIV and governance.
The women say that their main mandates are on a number of issues. Besides creating awareness on women rights they ensure that they make follow ups on children who are defiled, give their parents support and assistance, to make sure that they have gone to the hospital and to report the case to the police and to the courts.
One of their major activities, of which they are commonly known of, is to keep the girl child in schools, and educate them of their rights to education.
Florence Gideon, a member of the group, says that looking at their different regions, they discovered that education among girls was low.
“We conducted research in the areas to establish what exactly the problem in these areas was,” she says.
Gideon says that they discovered that for instance out of the 400 girls who enroll in class one, only 200 go through to class eight.
“We asked ourselves, where these students go?” she says.
However, they did not have to ponder for long as the girls came forward to speak, she says.
The chairlady says that the girls confessed to them that they barely got the time to read. Their major concerns were that when they got home from school, they had to do the all of the house chores.
They had to go fetch water, wash the babies, and if the mothers did business they had to take over, to assist them until very late in the night. This they attributed to their lack of concentration in class and also not doing their homework.
Sauti ya Wanawake also say that, some of these girls also confessed that sometimes they are not given money by their parents, and due to peer pressure, others advice them to get boyfriends who constantly give them money.
At the long run, they say, the boys demand to have sex with them. It is here that the problem lies, after they engage in sexual behavior, the girl will either get pregnant, or the boy will take her in for marriage, and that’s where their education ends
That was our entry point, says Binti Ali, we felt that there was a problem and we needed to help these girls to finish their education.
It is through these tribulations that the girls’ forum was started. To make the girls understand what their rights are.
The need for the girls to be educated on the rights of a child, counseling, and also to build their capacity plus that of their teachers was important.
Now, the Sauti ya Wanawake can say that the girls have become the ambassadors of the others. While they cannot talk to their parents freely, they can find confidence in their peers and also be open to their counselors.
They also, report cases to either their teachers or one of the group members in case a girl is becoming unruly.
Action aid, has given the group support by taking them for professional counseling to be able to tackle issues effectively.
Most of the cases they have received are rape and domestic cases-which are not so many and the victims are mostly of the ages 9-12.
Sauti ya Wanawake says that they have created a lot of impact in these regions. A good example they say is the Ziwa la Ngombe primary where 20 girls got over 300 marks in the last Kenya Certificate of primary education.
The girl’s performances have improved, they say. Above all, there is that retention in schools, we see the girls not dropping out as they used to. We also have to make sure that they get to class eight and that if they are outside we report them.
The women have also made it their own initiative to follow their mothers, by going door to door and educate them on the importance of educating the girl child.
“We tell them that if we find a child out of school we will report them to the police, who have created fear to the parents and also helped in taking the children to school,” says another member of the group.
They all agree that the girl child has special issues and there is need to sensitize them more.
“Yes we have the girl’s forum but there is still more that has to be done for these girls. We need to get these girls on a one on one basis and figure best way to help them out,”
There are parents who demoralize the children, says Binti Ali, the chairlady of the group. She says that some parents abuse the children verbally, telling them they would do better prostituting and are not worthy of anything.
Their living conditions are not any better. The poor the say, suffer the most as all the family members sleep in one house. The girls have no privacy and this where the trouble begins. Sometimes the women who sell manzi a local brew and the patrons assault the girls all the time.
When a girl is facing all these problems, they find it hard to talk to people openly about them, says Florence Gideon, a member of the group. Adding to their problems, she says, is the fact that they cannot afford sanitary towels and are therefore forced to miss school close to one week.
The girls concerns are indeed many. The Sauti Group has thus made it their objective to also talk to the parents and educate them about the needs of the girls.
Within their activities, they have sub committees that deal with health, advocacy and child and human rights as well as, HIV and governance.
The women say that their main mandates are on a number of issues. Besides creating awareness on women rights they ensure that they make follow ups on children who are defiled, give their parents support and assistance, to make sure that they have gone to the hospital and to report the case to the police and to the courts.
One of their major activities, of which they are commonly known of, is to keep the girl child in schools, and educate them of their rights to education.
Florence Gideon, a member of the group, says that looking at their different regions, they discovered that education among girls was low.
“We conducted research in the areas to establish what exactly the problem in these areas was,” she says.
Gideon says that they discovered that for instance out of the 400 girls who enroll in class one, only 200 go through to class eight.
“We asked ourselves, where these students go?” she says.
However, they did not have to ponder for long as the girls came forward to speak, she says.
The chairlady says that the girls confessed to them that they barely got the time to read. Their major concerns were that when they got home from school, they had to do the all of the house chores.
They had to go fetch water, wash the babies, and if the mothers did business they had to take over, to assist them until very late in the night. This they attributed to their lack of concentration in class and also not doing their homework.
Sauti ya Wanawake also say that, some of these girls also confessed that sometimes they are not given money by their parents, and due to peer pressure, others advice them to get boyfriends who constantly give them money.
At the long run, they say, the boys demand to have sex with them. It is here that the problem lies, after they engage in sexual behavior, the girl will either get pregnant, or the boy will take her in for marriage, and that’s where their education ends
That was our entry point, says Binti Ali, we felt that there was a problem and we needed to help these girls to finish their education.
It is through these tribulations that the girls’ forum was started. To make the girls understand what their rights are.
The need for the girls to be educated on the rights of a child, counseling, and also to build their capacity plus that of their teachers was important.
Now, the Sauti ya Wanawake can say that the girls have become the ambassadors of the others. While they cannot talk to their parents freely, they can find confidence in their peers and also be open to their counselors.
They also, report cases to either their teachers or one of the group members in case a girl is becoming unruly.
Action aid, has given the group support by taking them for professional counseling to be able to tackle issues effectively.
Most of the cases they have received are rape and domestic cases-which are not so many and the victims are mostly of the ages 9-12.
Sauti ya Wanawake says that they have created a lot of impact in these regions. A good example they say is the Ziwa la Ngombe primary where 20 girls got over 300 marks in the last Kenya Certificate of primary education.
The girl’s performances have improved, they say. Above all, there is that retention in schools, we see the girls not dropping out as they used to. We also have to make sure that they get to class eight and that if they are outside we report them.
The women have also made it their own initiative to follow their mothers, by going door to door and educate them on the importance of educating the girl child.
“We tell them that if we find a child out of school we will report them to the police, who have created fear to the parents and also helped in taking the children to school,” says another member of the group.
They all agree that the girl child has special issues and there is need to sensitize them more.
“Yes we have the girl’s forum but there is still more that has to be done for these girls. We need to get these girls on a one on one basis and figure best way to help them out,”
There are parents who demoralize the children, says Binti Ali, the chairlady of the group. She says that some parents abuse the children verbally, telling them they would do better prostituting and are not worthy of anything.
Their living conditions are not any better. The poor the say, suffer the most as all the family members sleep in one house. The girls have no privacy and this where the trouble begins. Sometimes the women who sell manzi a local brew and the patrons assault the girls all the time.
When a girl is facing all these problems, they find it hard to talk to people openly about them, says Florence Gideon, a member of the group. Adding to their problems, she says, is the fact that they cannot afford sanitary towels and are therefore forced to miss school close to one week.
The girls concerns are indeed many. The Sauti Group has thus made it their objective to also talk to the parents and educate them about the needs of the girls.
