See below for a list of the possibilities that we have come up with, or feel free brainstorm your own ideas and share them with us.

If you want to contribute, comment on the post or e-mail megan@zanaafrica.org.

Donations:

Do you have books at home that are gathering dust under your bed because you don’t use them anymore? Do you have old electronics that you don’t use because you have updated to a newer model? If so, we’d love to have them. Seriously. Here are some ideas:

• Books, videos, training manuals, other tools: In order to best equip our Junior Field Officers (high school graduates from Kibera), any of these resources would be great, especially if they are about peer pressure, self esteem, gender, drug abuse, sexual maturation, or related topics.
• Teaching Aids
• Art supplies: On Saturdays, we teach art in one of the schools within Kibera. More supplies are always welcome: markers, drawing paper, crayons, etc.
• Software Programs: Such as MS Project, Accountancy packages, Photoshop or MS Office. If you are no longer using any of these, they are greatly needed in our offices.
• Laptops (and cases): If you have old, unused laptops, our field officers could use them in their classrooms, or volunteers in the office could use them to work more efficiently
• Digital Cameras: We would like one per field officer to document their journey through Kibera and bring awareness to their cause
• Projectors: We eventually hope to have one for each field officer, to enhance their teaching capabilities
• Printer cartridges: HP 53 A, LJ 2015 P
• Video Cameras
• Blackberries: to increase communication efficiency in the office and beyond

Three Junior Field Officers work on a lesson plan for their Empowerment Groups

Other ways to help:

If you don’t have any of the above items, monetary donations are welcome as well. And you don’t have to worry about your money falling into a dark, infinite abyss, as we have devised a few specific ways that you can invest in ZanaA; ways that will achieve real and tangible goals.

Additionally, we are in the process of creating an interactive map that will allow you to see exactly where your money is going, and how it is being used (which should be complete by the end of the year).

Here are some ways that you can help:

Sponsor a Junior Field Officer: For $85 you can support one of our seven Junior Field Officers, helping them afford food, housing and transportation costs so that they can continue to empower youth in Kibera. (Photos and biographies of each of the field officers will be uploading onto the ZanaA website within the month).

Donate $50 and you can:

• Run an empowerment group for one month, teaching valuable life skills to 20 girls or boys, including materials needed and Junior Field Officer salary
• Pay a Junior Field Officer for three weeks as he or she works as a mentor to students in Kibera and breaks the cycle of poverty within his/her family
• Pay communication and travel costs for all Junior Field Officers for one month
• Pay rent for our office in Kibera for one month

*Idea to consider: If you have a church group, student group, book club, or any other group of interested individuals, designate one month to be “Break the Cycle of Poverty” month, and spend the month raising money for ZanaA. (If you want information or media to demonstrate the activities of ZanaA, e-mail us, and we can send them to you). As you can tell, even $50 is enough to make a difference!

Provide sanitary pads and underwear for a girl for ONE YEAR: $7.40

And the grand finale: if you have an organization that is interested in ZanaA, or if you are looking for a great, replicable and sustainable investment: with $50,000 we would be able to purchase a 1/4 acre plot near Kibera in order to establish an office building, as well as staff and volunteer housing.

Kajani (right) and Grace sing "God We Adore You" in the morning session.

The visitors, who came as part of the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, told of their favorite experiences of the past week—which included attending a Kenyan bridal shower and spending time with their new Kenyan host families. Although many of them had only been here for a few days, they already felt at home within the Kenyan culture.

Throughout the morning and afternoon, the visitors learned about ZanaA, and the ZanaA staff learned about the visitors. Megan explained the genesis of ZanaA, from its humble beginnings, to the vibrant organization it has become. Through her explanation, the American students were able to learn about a shining example of an organization that uses Kenyan tools to solve Kenyan problems, rather than imposing Western tools on Kenyan society.

A central element of ZanaA’s “toolkit”, the sanitary pad, was discussed in depth with the visitors. The students appeared particularly moved when Grace (the head field officer) revealed ways in which some Kenyan girls are forced deal with their period, as many do not have the money to purchase sanitary pads.

“They will sometimes use lots of tissues, or they will wash old pads and reuse them. Sometimes, they even use cow dung,” said Grace.

“Did she just say cow dung?” asked a student.

To illustrate the different kinds of sanitary pads that are currently available, Megan passed the pads around the group—drawing uncomfortable glances from some of the visiting boys. But after the initial shock, the boys avidly examined the pads, and even joined in the ongoing conversation.

The visitors were then given an opportunity to teach the ZanaA staff about themselves, and ICF leader Casey led the whole group in an interactive exploration of our passions and interests, in the hopes of discovering which direction our lives should lead.

While many of us simply wake up in the morning because it seems the natural thing to do, the session let us explore the specific things that sustain us through each and every day. Some present said “meeting new people”, while some took a more literal approach and said that it is “coffee” that gets them up in the morning.

And then it was lunch: home-cooked Spaghetti. Some went out onto the back lawn, some stayed in the living room. Music, accompanied with guitar, rang through every room, and both English and Swahili could be heard from every corner. A truly multi-cultural experience. Which, in essence, is what ZanaA is all about—bringing people together from different corners of the world to create solutions for worldwide challenges.

Do you want to see a model of green African manufacturing?

Do you want to be part of a cutting-edge social enterprise?

Do you want to see girls stay in school through affordable sanitary pads?

Do you want to help offer dignity for women through affordable sanitary pads they can purchase, and financial freedom through sales of pads in the bottom of the pyramid market?

Do you want to make money while doing great things for people and the planet?

Comment below, or visit www.zanaafrica.org and email me, if you would like to learn more or receive an investment packet in May (NDA will be required first).

And, by the end of the year, we hope that each and every one of these girls would never again have to worry about prostituting themselves to buy sanitary pads, stealing money from their family to buy sanitary pads, going without food to buy sanitary pads, or missing school for lack of sanitary pads. With the “food poverty index” – the number of people in urban areas who do not have consistent food – increasing to 40.3%, there has never been more pressure on girls to forgo sanitary pads or to resort to these unjust alternatives.

Starting on the 19th, we will have Form 4-finishers (to those Americans readings, translation: High School graduates) paired with Kenyan professionals, going around in teams of two to schools. 500 students in 10 schools will test MakaPads™, the patented sanitary pad to which we have exclusive rights for direct and indirect distribution to schools. From this, we will get feedback to ensure that we have the best product development for large-scale roll-out. Meanwhile, these teams will vist all schools in the areas, taking orders from school girls who could purchase deeply discounted packet of sanitary pads and documenting the numbers of girls who will need free sanitary pads.

Other teams will work with kiosk owners, health clinics, and women’s groups to test the market for sales of MakaPads, including testing the design of the packaging as well as the product itself. We will be selling 1,000 packets in this test phase, in denominations of 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12 and we will sell packets at different prices. The teams will compile daily market research to help us achieve the optimal price and number of pads to be sold, as well as the best way to penetrate the market.

I look forward to keeping you updated!

If you are reading this and you are a stakeholder in Kibera and Kawangware and want to get involved, or you want to volunteer your time, please contact me through our website, www.zanaafrica.org/ If you do not get through please send me a text message.

ZanaAfrica, and our sanitary pads project, comes as a result of many years of working with girls in Kenya , seeing problems, and searching for solutions. And it comes from living in Kenya for more than seven years now, and revising the way I see the world in light of new information and new experiences.

When I worked for five years with former street children, our organization’s biggest costs per child were bread and sanitary pads. I realized this was a national problem, that girls across the country went through horrible things during their periods.

This to me was a question of social justice. The poverty that mires 64% of Kenyans is unjust. To allow girls and their future families to sink further into poverty because they lack the funds necessary to stem the flow of their monthly menstruation and sit out of school four days a month– I cannot be the person who knows but remains on the sidelines. I believe the words of my high school mentor, Denise Fuller, who said, “the easiest words for someone to say are ‘I don’t know’. Because, once we know, we are required to do something.”

This is my attempt to do something, and we have a good team to make change. Because this issue is solvable, if the right minds and the right people come together to solve it. It is like a large box: it has a ceiling, and walls, it is huge, but it is definable; and, therefore, it is solvable.

The question for me then became one of discovering the lowest-cost solution for sanitary pads and their distribution: to simultaneously retain the largest percentage of students through providing sanitary pads; equip the students with leadership skills; reduce costs of sanitary pads to ensure more families are able to afford sanitary pads for their daughters; and, protect the environment.

Through ZanaA, we suggest a methodology to cascade sexual maturation protection from policy to national implementation. With the Ministry of Education’s endorsement and backing, ZanaA’s partnership can transform from one of seeking to distribute sanitary pads and provide girls with health education and life skills to a 21st-century venture able to simultaneously address multiple needs by various sectors.

In such a partnership, the Ministry of Education and the Government of Kenya would be world-renowned as finding the ultimate solution to keeping girls in school, a replicable country-wide solution and a model to offer other countries in Africa and the world over. This is a goal we are delighted to work toward. And one in which your help can go a long way – you too can be a part of the solution. For only 650 Kenya shillings or $8.67, you can keep just one girl in school for the year with 12 packets of sanitary pads (10 pads per packet) and three pairs of underwear. Who knows what she might become when she grows up?

The implementation of sanitary pads provision is a great challenge. However, with the right partners, it is within reach. And with the youth depending on us, we cannot afford to fail them.

Thank you for your interest, and your partnership.

Megan