Women and girls face many negative consequences if they are not able to access feminine hygiene products. During their cycle, they are unable to participate in the important activities of daily life, which means missing out on community meetings or staying home from school. In response to this reality, the Nkirreten project employs women to sew reusable sanitary pads, which are packaged in fours into a dignity pack. Dignity packs are then distributed to women and girls in the community.
This empowers not only the wider community of women and girls, but also the women who are chosen by their community to be employed by the project. The reusable sanitary pads are zebra-striped, which means that everyday the women making the pads, as well as the girls and women who receive them, are connected to Grevy’s zebra through this valuable menstrual health product.
Meet Sintiwan, one of the first women to work on the Nkirreten project. Her remarkable transformation from a place of desperation to a position of leadership illustrates the impact of empowerment and opportunity.
Photo by Natalia Mroz
Sintiwan’s story is one of profound evolution. When she first crossed paths with our Gender and Youth Officer, Damaris, she was subdued and uncertain. She had been nominated to take part in the Nkirreten project by the elders in her community, who identified her as someone who was in great need.
Sintiwan was a child bride, and gave birth to her first child at 14 years of age. Her older husband then moved to Nairobi for work, and while he was away. She was neglected by his family and, in the end, was forced to leave with nothing but the clothes she was wearing. She moved back to Westgate Conservancy, where her family lived, but she still had to fend for herself. She therefore tapped the Commiphora africana trees for gum so that she could sell it. During these trips to collect gum, she had to compete with foraging baboons who were also after the gum as a part of their diet. It was at this point, estranged from her family, and in a desperate state, that Sintiwan was given the Nkirreten project opportunity by her community.
Photo by Natalia Mroz
Through dedicated mentorship by Damaris, and her camaraderie with the other women in the project, Sintiwan embarked on a journey of self-discovery that would reshape not only her own life but also her wider community. She gained valuable skills through the Nkirreten project and became financially independent, even becoming a homeowner, a rare occurrence for women in her community. Her manyatta (homestead) is the only one to belong to a woman, where she lives with her elderly mother and her children. With GZT’s support, she was able to go with Damaris to the Chief and request him to write a letter to her husband’s family to allow her to take her children back to live with her.
Sintiwan’s empowerment extended beyond personal achievements to advocacy for women’s rights within her community. Armed with newfound confidence and leadership skills, she challenges the harmful practices of child marriage in order to protect her daughters from having to go through the same experience she had gone through as a young girl.
At the same time, Sintiwan is a passionate ambassador for Grevy’s zebra. She feels a strong, deep connection with the species, and her community reports to her any sightings of Grevy’s zebra in the area. During the drought, she was prepared to keep Grevy’s zebra in the goat enclosure of her manyatta so that she could take care of them like her livestock.
Damaris describes the Sintiwan of today as confident, bold, and happy, bearing little resemblance to the woman she had initially met those years ago. Beyond the tangible impact of distributing dignity packs, Sintiwan’s story shows the multi-faceted impact of our Nkirreten project, empowering not only the women and girls in the community who receive sanitary pads, but also the women who are employed in the project. We are immensely proud of Sintiwan’s journey, and honoured to be a part of it.
