Telling A Different Story
There is a need to be valued or seen, and we see a lack of it a lot in our societies, and girls are particularly affected. My mother passed away when I was 11 years old, I was left under the care of my amazing grandmother who had an income of 30U$D then, and to say it was tough is an understatement.
Fortunately, I had an exceptional teacher (An angel personified), who impacted my life in many ways than one. She noticed me amid the large group of learners, paid attention, and started providing me with both physical and emotional needs. This was way beyond her job scope, and it came from the deep wells of love in her heart.
She became a mother to a motherless child.
I felt worthy because someone was seeing potential in me and gave me the much-needed encouragement that it will get better. With her great support and a loving grandmother, I managed to pass high school with an 80% average and won a scholarship to study in Malaysia. Since then, my life has never been the same and on the backbone of my destiny helpers, my passion to serve and save the negation was born!
I started an organization called Botswana Organization for Sisters Empowering Junior Associates (BOSEJA), because of what my teacher did for me, and my desire was and still is to simply pay it forward for another girl. She changed my story, she gave me a choice, voice, and control. Because of that, I want to do it for another girl next door, down the street, and in my community. If she didn't pay attention where will I be? Probably I would be one of the statistics of teenage pregnancy, given to sugar daddies, HIV, etc. Where there is poverty, often the girl child is the most vulnerable, therefore, they need to be informed, educated, and empowered.
WHAT WE DO
BOSEJA runs adolescent girls’ empowerment programs on Sexual Reproductive Health Rights, life skills-based education, and mentorship through advocacy and storytelling. We focus on the needs of girls from low-income communities by advocating for them to receive equal opportunities in education making sure they reach their full potential. BOSEJA works to improve the quality of educational experiences for underrepresented girls, for whom such opportunities are critical in overcoming inequality and other social challenges such as teenage pregnancy, sexual violence, and poverty.
OUR IMPACT
In May 2021, we launched the ‘BOSEJA Girls Sanitary Pads Project', at Maboane Primary School in Maboane, a sparsely populated village in the Kweneng district of Botswana. The aim of the project is to achieve 100% school attendance for girls, especially during their menstrual cycle. Furthermore, we thrive to end period poverty in low-income communities as well as educating girls and stakeholders on the importance of menstrual hygiene management.
BOSEJA supported Maboane Primary School with sanitary pads for the entire year, to assist 70 girls and improved their school attendance. The head teacher wrote back to us by end of the year that the school managed to pass the 50 % attendance mark which they could not break through for years. To date, BOSEJA has managed to donate over 3000 sanitary pads to 10 different schools and organizations and supports about 25 girls in Mochudi with hygiene menstrual kits every month since 2021. Additionally, we have taught over 120 girls computer literacy (ICT/STEM) through our digital program called Beyond the Classroom Initiative since its launch in February 2022.
We are looking into building a school library in Maboane, publishing a menstrual hygiene book, and more this year. Our vision seeks to create a better and more inclusive everyday life for marginalized girls.
We mainly approach this by storytelling, as we believe real-life stories can change one’s life. In fact, our tagline is telling a different story. Question is, what stories do our girls have now? Are they empowering, uplifting, and encouraging? What’s happening to our girls right now? And what stories have we heard of them? Last year in November a report came out by the Police and UNICEF Botswana that 5000+ girls were defiled between 2019-21. You can read that again! These numbers are alarming more so because Botswana has such a small population and the majority of them being adolescents. Another report came out as well through a local newspaper that new infection cases are on the rise, implicating HIV-hit men, and young girls. In most cases, girls are defiled by people they trust such as family members and friends, and this damages their ability to form and maintain social relationships both intimate and platonic.
How then do we change her story, and how do we tell it differently? Let’s give her a voice, together we can re-write her story and increase her voice. We should have different stories showing that THIS WAS HER STORY; THIS IS HER STORY NOW AND THIS IS WHERE WE SEE HER STORY IN THE FUTURE. For once can the report of our girls’ stories be uplifting, empowering and daring! Help someone to get to feel heard and to get to help someone find out who they are. Finding their voice is the most rewarding experience ever! No matter their background, girls have the power to transform themselves, their communities, and the world around them. Every kid is one decision away from being another statistic, but this can be avoided with the help of one caring adult. Every kid is one caring adult away from being a success story and every child who winds up doing well had at least one stable and committed relationship with a supportive adult! I had that! Look how my story is now!