We have so far held 12 community dialogue meetings about the dangers of child marriage in 03 Sub counties of Kashongi, Kenshunga and Kiruhura Town Council targeting community leaders and parents calling upon them to revive their roles in creating a protective environment both at home, and community for the girl child to unleash her potential. This has increased their knowledge and understanding of the drivers of child marriage and appreciate the dangers of marrying off children at an early age.
We have trained 165 girls in bakery; i.e making mbagiya, crisps, madazi, chapats and cookies. The little money made out of sales has enabled them to meet some of their basic personal needs like knickers, Vaseline, body sprays and sanitary pads which previously were some of the items that lured girls into early unions and child marriages. Equally this engagement kept them busy not to engage with bad groups, going to video halls, and loitering around towns especially during the Covid-19 school shut down.
We have had a series of radio talk shows on radio 5, Rushere, we have run spot messages and DJ mentions as well as a radio drama reflecting the challenges in community that girls and boys face leading them into early unions, and promote shared decision making in families about marriage. The radio has been of great importance especially during the lockdown period as gatherings were banned. Involving the media in our campaigns has been so strategic and yielded positive results. A number of stories and statistics about child marriage in Kiruhura district have been aired on TV West calling for urgent action by stakeholders.
Aware of the impact of Covid-19 and how it is making the marginalized households more vulnerable, following a number home visit activities, and reports of food insecurity from project beneficiaries, and a discussion by the Board, it was sought to be important to provide crucial relief items to some of the worse hint households. The items included posho, soap, potatoes and beans. We were also in position to provide maize for planting purposes. At the end of the exercise a total of 65 households had been reached.
We also held hands on training for girls in making Sanitary towels and some of the girls have taken up the initiative to their communities they are now making pads for their mothers, expectant women and also selling to other community members. We are happy to report that we have successfully rescued 03 girls from child marriage. These girls reported cases of plans to be given away by their parents. We intervened, called parents, reported the matters to police and the girls were rescued and taken back to school.
We have supported community groups with income generating activities in form of goats, and pigs to boost livelihoods and household incomes. Other groups have been supported under skills component in the field of weaving shopping bags, ghee processing, soap making, baking, tailoring and salon. Some of the beneficiaries have taken these skills to another level and are now making items for public consumption.
