Teen Girls Program

Thank-you to Amanda Stuermer and The Global Shine Project for generously supporting Shanti Uganda's Teen Girl's Programs.

Since 2007, we have given out hundreds of reusable menstrual pads to young Ugandan girls who otherwise miss school and refrain from the daily activities that allow them to be empowered as women.  

Our Teen Girls Workshops take place at the Shanti Uganda Birth House and girls from the surrounding villages attend a series of classes that focus on health, empowerment and story telling.  The workshops empower young girls to become more aware and confident in their bodies and include discussion time, team building exercises, parter yoga and breath-work.  

Each workshop covers the importance of the many roles women fill in Uganda, enables each participant to chose a role model to turn to for questions regarding health, sex, HIV and improving their general well-being.  During the interactive workshops the girls are given multiple opportunities to discuss openly and ask questions in a safe environment about safe-sex, healthy relationships, menstruation, the importance of proper nutrition, preventing HIV/AIDS and supporting those living with HIV/AIDS.

At the end of each workshop, the participants receive the workshop manual as well as a washable menstrual pad kit which allows them to attend school and do other activities while menstruating. Our washable menstrual pad kits are purchased in Uganda from a women's collective run by Afri-Pads or generously donated by our supporters.  We are currently looking for donations of underwear for the teen girl's program.  

Many of the girls supported in the program have lost loved ones, experienced a great deal of trauma and are often the daughters of the members of our Women's Group. These workshops give them the skills and support to share stories and knowledge with friends and the community at large and contribute towards our goal of reducing maternal mortality rates - which is often a result of teen pregnancy in the local village. 

Nutritional Health

The Shanti Uganda Society supports locally initiated projects that improve the nutritional health of communities on an ongoing basis. 

In the past, we have created and run a chicken coop project to provide much needed nutritional support to a community in need and are currently running a Safe Drinking Water Initiative which uses bio-sand filters to filter out harmful contaminants in the community where we work. 

Our Community Garden Project is run on our acre of land in Nsaasi Village and was created with the volunteer time and effort of community members, members of the Shanti Uganda Women's Group and local staff and will benefit both the community, our Ugandan staff, the women in the Women's Group and the birthing mothers at the Shanti Uganda Birth House. 

(biosand filters remove contaminants which cause waterborne illnesses)