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Broverman found a community where health education doesn’t exist; where extended families that could pass on their feminine wisdom had been wiped out by the extraordinarily high rates of HIV and malaria infection. It was a place where conversations about menstruation were practically non-existent. “We heard stories about male teachers who were not supportive of girls when they were menstruating. Girls would be locked out of the class if they left to go to the bathroom. There were no female teachers, and many of the girls didn’t know [what] was happening to their bodies,” said Broverman.

Broverman and Duke students came back from Kenya with a plan: build a girls’ boarding school to house, educate and empower adolescents in Muhuru Bay. Thus was born WISER – the Women’s institute for Secondary Education and Research.

Stunning Strides

Since the initial plan was hatched in 2005, WISER has made stunning strides toward its goal. Largely a grass roots effort, the WISER program has raised $508,000 for scholarships, acquisition of land, and teacher training. During Broverman’s visit to Kenya in May 2008, the community held a formal ceremony to mark the purchase of land for the school. “We have identified a structural engineer and the designs are all completed,” said Broverman. “We hope to hire a contractor in six weeks and break ground soon, with plans to open enrollment in February of 2010.” Fundraising for WISER continues, and Duke University has also offered a loan to WISER to enable the construction to continue apace.

But the WISER team didn’t want to wait for a building before they began helping the young girls succeed in school. And so we return to the practical solution. The steering committee obtained a generous donation of sanitary pads from Johnson and Johnson through the tireless efforts of Carrie Arndt, director of the Office of Program Management at LifeScan, a J&J company. (Arndt also helped host a fundraise in 2007 which raised $30,000 toward scholarships and construction.) In the summer of 2007, Duke students distributed 13,000 pads. This May, another 14,500 pads were distributed by Broverman and the WISER team to girls at three primary schools and one secondary school in the Muhuru Bay area.

“I could almost hear the screams of delight from the girls in the picture who know that their next periods will not mean staying away from school for 3-5 days,” said Rene Kiamba, Manager of Sub-Saharan programs at J&J.

Community Involvement

Conquering the details and finances has been challenging, but the real satisfaction has come from the strong community buy in and support in Muhuru Bay, said Hannah Adams, WISER program coordinator.

Dr. Rose Odhiambo of Egerton University and Verah Achieng, a high school senior from Muhuru Bay, are promoting the sanitary pad program and the boarding school to parents, schools and community groups. Achieng joined the effort when WISER called for local residents to pitch in.

“Even if I don’t benefit, my children and my neighbors will benefit,” said 20 year old Achieng.

A local female leader—Mama Benta Ogada—who runs a home-based group for HIV patients has taken on the role of distributing pads and organizing educational programs at schools for the local girls. Women who speak the native language are essential to imparting the health information to adolescents.

As successes mount, the vision for Muhuru Bay grows ever broader, said Broverman. The girls’ school will double as a community center in the summers and during school breaks, providing co-ed tutoring, computer lessons, leadership classes and adult education. Last summer, Duke students piloted several such camps with resounding success.

The school will also provide the first and only public source of clean, treated water in the community, exponentially reducing the number of trips that girls must make to Lake Victoria to retrieve water.

“Girls make multiple trips a day to the lake or water holes to retrieve water, which takes up school and studying time,” said Adams. “Access to clean water will also reduce disease and sickness.”

Empowering Girls Empowers the Country

Poverty and educational barriers are ubiquitous in Kenya, but women are particularly vulnerable to their effects.

Educational deficits promote premature drop-out, early marriages, more babies, continued poverty, higher infant mortality rates and, in turn, a repetitive cycle that perpetuates these societal ills.

“For every measure of development you can imagine, girls’ education has one of the most powerful impacts,” said Broverman. “It’s been clearly shown you can have a profound impact on economic and physical health by improving this one measure, education. It improves the development of the whole region.”

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