Leaders call for importance of addressing girl child needs and challenges
Leaders in Garissa county have stressed the need to address the needs and challenges that face girl-child so as to empower them and maximize their potential.
Heads of various regional organizations assembled in Nep Girls High School echoing the message of joining hands to identify and tackle the challenges that prevented the girls from realizing their full potential.
During the international day of the girl child 2022 event held at Nep Girls High School, Maka Kassim activist, said that among the problems that made most of the girls regardless of their religious background included teenage pregnancies, female genital mutilation (FGM), and poverty at home to a point of lacking power to buy sanitary pads.
She urged well-wishers organization groups to reached out to the girls help them with their needs and talk to them on how to cope with their plights.
Fatuma Bathi Activist said that the society cannot sit down and watch young girls getting impregnated because if an action is not taken, many will be disrupting their lives.
“Let’s look after all our girls’ needs and challenges and face them head on so that they can maximize their potential,’ Bathi added.
She also called for concerted effort to fight FGM, terrorism and drugs abuse among the young people.
Ahmed Abdi director gender, said the Bible and Quran are against the FGM and any form of violence against women and called upon the political leaders to join the bandwagon to fight for rights of the girl child and advocate for equal chance to education to children irrespective of their sex.
He urged the girls to ensure they reported to the authority like chiefs, elders, relatives and teachers all cases suspected to border sexual harassment, violence or discrimination.
Nep Girls High School student Aisha Omar said that girls should be given their rights and training for more girls in the county so that they could arm themselves with knowledge to resist sexual advances that lead to early pregnancies and other social immoralities.