FARIDA: PRIMARY SCHOOL STUDENT
“I need to go to secondary school & finish university and do many, many things. Maybe even become a professor in this country. After that, I can marry.”
Portrait of Farida in Kajiampau, 2016. Photo: Kate Lapides-Black.
We met and interviewed Farida in Kajiampau, Kenya, in 2016, when our work was focused on providing girls with MHM and reproductive health education and reusable pads to help them stay in school . Animated, confident and thoughtful, Farida, 15, lived with her mother and six siblings and was at the top of her class in math. She hopes one day to be married. But, as she asserted, only after she attains a university education. Below, Frida shared her thoughts on the ways in which For the Good’s work helped make a difference in the lives of girls at her school
“Before you were coming with the pads, some of the girls were refusing to come to school because their parents don't have money to buy those pads. Some of the girls were using pieces of old blankets or mattresses. Some of the girls were refusing to come to school because of fearing to be laughed at by boys during their menstruation period.
"In some places, a girl can get pregnant and then she misses coming to school, or because she gets a baby, or she gets married....A girl gets cheated by a boy and gets pregnant and then she stays at home and misses her education. Here (in Kajiampau,) there are some girls who have got pregnant who have not even finished Class Eight; this has happened to many girls.
"I need to be able to grow up to finish my education. At the time I finish my education, I can get married. But only after I finish university. I want to be a big person in the world. Because then you can be treated well and help other people."
