Assist Without a Face – Restoring Dignity, Keeping Girls in School
In Kenya’s slums, more than 70% of women and girls cannot afford hygienic menstrual products, while only 30% of schools have adequate hygiene facilities suitable for girls. As a result, many adolescent girls are forced to stay at home during their menstrual periods, missing nearly one week of school every month. Over time, this learning gap contributes to school dropouts, low self-esteem, and increased vulnerability to early teenage pregnancies.
The Assist Without a Face initiative was created to break this cycle.
Through this program, we provide sanitary towels to school-going adolescent girls and diapers to young children within the slums, ensuring dignity, comfort, and continuity in education. Beyond distribution, the initiative incorporates mentorship and training sessions on menstrual health and hygiene, reproductive health, life skills, and career development in schools across the slum communities. These sessions empower girls with knowledge, confidence, and the ability to make informed decisions about their bodies and futures.
Rising poverty levels make it extremely difficult for women and young mothers to afford basic necessities such as sanitary towels and diapers. Many survive on casual labor that only supports a hand-to-mouth existence. By easing the burden of menstrual and childcare needs, Assist Without a Face allows women to focus on putting food on the table and supporting their families with the little they have.
Poor menstrual hygiene poses serious health risks, including reproductive and urinary tract infections, as highlighted by UNICEF, and continues to hold women and girls back from
reaching their full potential. When girls miss school and women miss opportunities, entire communities suffer.
Through Assist Without a Face, we restore dignity, protect health, keep girls in school, and create a supportive environment where women and young mothers can thrive—quietly, respectfully, and with impact.
