Meet Hope for Young Girls and Boys founder Sylvia Sula

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By JONATHAN KABWE in Lusaka, Zambia

A NEWLY formed Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) in Lusaka, focusing on the personal hygiene of young people is scouting for resources to extend its programmes to all districts of Lusaka province.

Hope for Young Girls and Boys founder Sylvia Sula said in a Sunday 18^th February 2018 Media Statement in Lusaka that the organization is distributing sanitary towels, soaps and other materials among young girls and boys to encourage them exercise acceptable personal hygiene to prevent some diseases.

Ms. Sula said Hope for Young Girls and Boys was meanwhile looking for any donor or organization that would help it with resources to acquire sanitary towels and other material items to be distributed to the young girls especially those in the rural districts of Lusaka Province.

Ms. Sula said either cash or material donations would greatly help Hope for Young Girls and Boys achieve its objectives.

Ms. Sula indicated that the programme of sanitary towel distribution was first done as a pilot project to young girls at Bauleni School in Lusaka so that they could use them during their menstrual period.

‘’Hope for the Girls is a newly formed Non-Governmental Organization based in Lusaka. Our objectives are to help the young persons to learn about their personal hygiene. We started as a pilot project in Bauleni Township where we donated some sanitary towels to about 500 girls to use during their menstrual periods,’’ Ms. Sula said.

However, Ms. Sula said that at the moment Hope for Young Girls and Boys had financial challenges to extend its programmes into some remote parts of Lusaka province, hence to make appeal to any donor, companies, business communities and well-wishers (as an individual to help out with resources) to extend its operation areas.

Ms. Sula stated that most young girls in rural areas stop attending classes when they are on menstrual since they do not have good means of keeping them safe.

Ms. Sula said with the provision of sanitary towels girls would feel secure and protected and feel free to continue attending classes.

‘’Young girls are always in needy of sanitary towels to use during their menstrual periods. According to our research we have found out that most of young girls just use traditional methods to prevent their flow so they do not adequately manage and as a result they stop attending lessons during those days they remain in menstrual days.

“They opt to do so because they fear their friends especially boys to laugh at them so they miss out in terms of school lessons,’’ Ms. Sula said.

Ms. Sula said because of that her organization was working to ensure that some girls were being provided with sanitary towels to use and soap to ensure they wash themselves and feel free and mix with their colleagues.

It would be good if Hope for Young Girls and Boys, a newly formed NGO would do be better to extend its services to Zambia’s 10 Provinces; Central, Copperbelt, Eastern, Luapula, Lusaka, Muchinga, Northern, North-Western, Southern and Western  to assist young girls with those vital towels.