BOLD WOMAN: Teenage girls' rights defender Annastanzia Kimbio

Annastanzia Kimbio, 26, is a civil engineer on weekdays and a teenage girl rights defender on weekends. The founder of Teen Pregnancy Awareness (TPA) seeks to empower young girls through mentorships, guidance and counselling and to see them attend school with little or no disturbances brought forth by normal body functions through provision of sanitary towels.

She spoke to Nation.co.ke about her journey.

Tell us more about TPA and what made you want to start it.

I always loved giving back to the society as a child. I visited children homes with my friends and mentored the young girls every so often on abstinence. Along the way, we realised that there is so much revolving around teen pregnancies, and not just the girls.

There is the issue of poverty, case in example, in Mlolongo, you may find a young girl who cannot afford a packet of sanitary towels. This means that she may opt to sleep with the truck drivers in exchange for money to buy the month’s supply.

Such issues were never discussed, so we decided to call a spade a spade. We started talking about Female Genital Mutilation, abortions, early marriages and sex education in addition to teen pregnancies.

We were six friends initially, but only one still works with me.

I decided to start the initiative in 2016. It reaches out to more than 1500 girls yearly as it seeks to empower and provide sanitary towels to young girls. We strive to develop meaningful partnerships to enhance a sustained capacity to collect; purchase and distribute sanitary towels to young needy girls in informal settlements, primary and high schools and children homes, whilst equipping them with life skills that prepare them to participate in life processes with dignity and respect.

Our first initiative was in AIC Namanga. We were able to assist a combination of three schools, and there has been no dropout in any of the schools since then. We regularly follow-up after visiting a place.

What are the initiative’s objectives?
To provide health talks in education centres about teen pregnancy and adolescents reproductive health and also work as a referral point.

To also distribute sanitary towels to the less privilege girls in schools and out of school. We aim to network with other groups and organizations through seminars, forums, workshops as a way of empowering each other on issues concerning teen pregnancy and other challenges that face the youth in the society. We also seek to network and form groups which will eventually develop youths in positive changes and positive ways in the society and also advocate against early marriage and teenage pregnancy, environmental and health sanitation.

We are currently trying to come up with a program to train young girls on how to make reusable sanitary towels for their use, as well as to act as a source of income by selling them.

Is your work restricted to one area?
No. We have been in Kisumu, Narok, Kajiado and Nairobi counties and hope to work in many more in the near future.

How are you able to raise the funds for the initiative?
Through donations from friends and family. We do not have a sponsor yet.

What are some of the challenges you face trying to run the initiative?
Lack of capital, of course. But also, we have received resistance from people who do still view sex education as a taboo or as a topic of no-discussion over the years.

It is also hard to find the young girls in school seeing as we only work with the initiative over the weekend.

What would you say is your goal for the near future?

Simple. For the teen birth rate in Kenya to have reduced by 50 per cent by 2030.

What has the initiative been able to achieve since its inception?
TPA has managed to distribute 600 sanitary towels monthly to the deserving beneficiaries. It has also held mentorship sessions in over 50 schools and a number of children homes which has helped increase school attendance by girls to over 85 per cent.

Do you see yourself ever taking up social work full-time?
Maybe, but for now,I don’t see myself quitting engineering. I can manage, and enjoy the both so far.

Best advice you have received?
My dad always tells me that I can be whatever I want to. 

What would you say motivated you to start raising awareness on teen pregnancy and sex education?
Growing up in the coastal region, there was always the cultural beliefs that a woman’s place is in the kitchen or as a mother. True to say, I was the only person, out of all my high school classmates, who furthered her studies. This is something I felt the need to change.