By Hou Akot Hou
A locally formed organisation based in Northern Bahr El Ghazal State is currently dealing with the distribution of sanitary kits to schoolgirls in order to help retain them in school while they are pursuing their studies.
In an interview with this publication over the weekend, Aken Ngor Tong, the sponsor of the initiative who founded an organisation known as the Seeding Mercy Organisation, said the organisation is looking at helping the girls across the five counties of Northern Bahr El Ghazal State to help the girls stay in school.
Ngor said he came up with this brainchild while he came to his ancestral home village in Aweil East County last year, where he learnt through his younger sisters and nieces that the factors of dropping out from education centres encompass lack of sanitary kits once a girl experiences such biological change.
He said he had been supporting them, including providing food to the communities within Aweil East through food assistance, but he shifted to the schools across the state through sanitary kit provision in order to help open arms to the majority.
“I have been supporting the local community members in Aweil East through food distribution, and when I went home recently, I found out from my daughters of my brothers and other nieces that the lack of sanitary kits is more of a double-edged factor, as they could easily miss out on receiving instructions from teachers when one is away during the period of the menstrual cycle,” he stated.
Tong said he aspires to support more as he gets the funding, as he is currently in the United States of America, where he supplies the project with financial support for the purchase of the material.
He also said his team on the ground will provide the crutches and the wheelchairs to some people in the hospital, whom they will visit, especially people in Aweil State Hospital.
In a similar vein, William Door Malek, the Communication Officer in Seeding Mercy, an organisation doing the distribution of sanitary items, said they have so far begun distribution of the sanitary materials in some schools in Aweil Town and have moved to Aweil East County.
“We have started with some schools within Aweil Town and have come to Aweil East County, such as Apei-GOI Primary School, Saalam Girls in Aweil Town, and St. Paul and Makuei-Agep, Malual-Baai, and Madhol Primary Schools, and we are going to cover other schools in the other counties as well as we progress until we complete the target,” he stated.
Malek said they are going to distribute 3000 sanitary kits across the state, saying the challenging issue is the identification of the beneficiaries, as some female teachers choose to prioritise all girls, which can complicate the exercise.
“In each school we target at least 1500 adults, but in most schools we have reached, female teachers choose to add all girls, which can finish up the sanitary items. So we get tough on this, as other schools have not been reached,” he stated.
Door said the challenging issue is also the mobility factor, as they plan to reach the far-flung areas of the county, such as Majok-Yith-Thiou, near Sudan, where some schools are functioning but with limited access to such donations.
As the exercise continues, he appeals to the teachers in the schools that they shall target to work closely with them in finding or identifying those vulnerable beneficiaries to get the kits in a bid to avoid doubts, skepticism, and finger-pointing.