Thembekile and other girls her age in Quthing have to rely on old cloths for use during their monthly periods. Their families are too poor to afford sanitary pads.
Their plight has been made worse by the COVID-19 pandemic as most of their parents, who are usually employed on South African vegetable and fruit farms in Ceres in the Western Cape, are either back in Lesotho and not earning any income or remain in that neighbouring country without jobs.
During the start of the lockdown due to COVID-19 in March, a lot of men and women from Quthing returned to Lesotho. Almost six months after, they are still in Lesotho, without any form of income.
The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has partnered with the Lesotho Red Cross Society (LRCS) to support girls like Thembekile. Through funds from the Central Emergency Relief Fund (CERF), the UNFPA engaged LRCS as an implementing partner to distribute dignity kits to vulnerable girls and women affected by drought and COVID-19.
Thembekile’s aunt, who received the dignity kit on her behalf in Qomoqomong, was happy after receiving the package.
“We have nothing. Nothing. When we wake up we don’t know where to go and what to do. My greatest challenge is that I don’t only look after Thembekile whose parents have been working in Ceres on apple and onion farms, but I have my own children who have not done well in matric examinations and are idling at home,” the woman says.
She adds: “Now COVID-19 has made things worse.”
She wishes there could be dams around the village to harness water and lessen the effects of drought.
Besides the dignity kit, she was also grateful for the advice offered by an official from the Child and Gender Protection Unit (CGPU) during the handing over of the dignity kits.
“It is difficult for some of us to talk to our children about issues relating to sex, child marriage and other children’s rights. So we are happy that the girls were advised on these issues today,”
During the handing over ceremony of the dignity kits earlier this month, Woman Police Constable Lirontso Shale highlighted the girls, and women present at the occasion on their human rights, Gender Based Violence (GBV), especially during the lockdown, the different types of GBV and how they can be affected as young girls.
She encouraged the girls to report gender based violence, explaining that early sexual debut leads to unwanted pregnancies, transmissible diseases and illegal abortions.
Shale added: “Anyone below the age of 16 is not supposed to engage in sex. It is an offence to do so.”
She also warned them against child marriage and its repercussions. “No matter the kind of problems you have, marriage is not a solution. The solution is getting an education,” she said.
According to the Principal of Qomoqomong Primary School, some young girls often miss school when they have their monthly periods to avoid embarrassment.
The principal was equally happy that the dignity kit contained, among others, two undergarments.
“Due to embarrassment, sometimes the girls are unable to participate in sports activities or they end up borrowing each other's underwear. This we ultimately know because when there is a conflict, these things come out and end up being known by many at the school, causing more embarrassment,” she also said.
A Red Cross Volunteer Ms ’Marelebohile Ntsukunyane who has been distributing the dignity kits in Quthing says many young girls in the district live on their own as their parents work in Ceres.
“There is therefore a lot of sexual assault directed at these girls,” Ms Ntsukunyane said.
Most of all, she said they have discovered that many of them are destitute.
“When we were in Sixondo, we had to share the contents of the dignity kits. We could not just leave some of the girls that were there without giving them anything, considering how needy they looked,” she further showed.
The dignity kits have been distributed in Quthing, Mokhotlong, Maseru, Mafeteng and Mohale’s Hoek to 500 young girls and young women.
The programme was launched at the Royal Palace in Maseru, where 10 girls who were selected as representatives of a bigger group of 2 500 received the dignity kits, handed over by the UNFPA Representative to Lesotho Dr Marc Derveeuw to Her Royal Highness Princess Senate Mohato Seeiso who officially received them on behalf of the girls.
