Lydia Anne

 JIJUE FIELD REPORT The project’s FGD Interviews were carried out with two groups of adolescent girls, two groups of adolescent boys and four Key Informant Interviews with teachers from different participating schools in Kisii and Migori Counties. Several topics were discussed during the interview sessions and some topics came out strong across the groups. The topic on Female Genital Mutilation, Self Efficacy to report wrongs done, Puberty and Adolescent and Gender Equality came out as some things that have changed in a positive way, since the project commenced. Most of the learners described Jijue program as a health program teaching them about self awareness and how to take care of themselves during adolescent period. Several components of the program were mentioned by both the learner’s groups and the teachers’ groups with harmful cultural practices like Female Genital Mutilation and early marriages taking the lead. The learners are now aware of the disadvantages of undergoing FGM and across the Counties, they mentioned that it causes complications for females during child birth and there is risk of over bleeding and even death; while undergoing the procedure. Female Genital Mutilation indirectly leads to early marriages since within the Kisii and Kuria communities, girls are considered grown once they are cut. Both groups are now advocating for total abolishment of such practices The learners now have a better knowledge of Sexual Reproduction Health with most of them being aware of their reproductive parts and their functions, how to take care of their bodies, conception and the different ways of family planning that they can use to avoid pregnancy. Making informed decision was also mentioned by the learners as one way in which they can use to avoid making mistakes; they now weigh the pro and cons before following what their peers are doing. This indirectly touches on peer pressure and how it can lead to vices such as drug abuse On puberty and adolescent, the girls and boys are now aware of the physical, emotionally and psychological changes that they are or, might go through and have knowledge on how to mitigate through them, this has led to better relationship between the boys and girls. Subjects such as menstruation which was something of a taboo, has now become a normal thing and girls are no longer ridiculed by boys during their periods. The girls have gained courage to ask for sanitary from their teachers and peers and are now not missing school, unlike before where they would miss school during the days that they were having their periods Family structure was also mentioned as a factor that can influence the psychological wellbeing of the learners and separation of parents took a lead on this. Key Informant Interviews brought this out and it was realized that with the mother being absent from home, the girl child is exposed to taking up the role of a care giver to the younger siblings and playing ‘wife’ to the father. This exposes girls to abuse by their father; this was something that came out in both Migori and Kisii Counties, where girls reported receiving sexual advances from their fathers since their mothers were not home. The absence of a father also exposes girls to dangers of being sexually molested by the mother’s suitors. From the interviews, it clearly comes out that girls are at a higher risk of being abused by their care givers or other adults within the community. However, there is need to educated boys about rape and inappropriate sexual advances from older females There were several suggestions made on how the program can be improved Jijue with class duration being the most mentioned. Both the learners and the teachers mentioned that the classes should be held averagely four days a week for 60-90minutes. It was also suggested that teachers should be allowed to attend the Jijue classes to help with keeping order and also assist with the implementation once the facilitators have left Learners mentioned that there is gender discrimination when it comes to allocation of chores and girls sacrificing a lot and staying home to be care givers in cases where parents are busy, and boys doing the minimal and attending school all through. At the end of the discussions, some learners suggested that incentives be brought for everyone and not just girls, as this brings about bad blood with the boys feeling left out and creating a negative attitude towards attending Jijue classes. In overall, a lot of positive changes were mentioned to have been experienced since the program began in the school, among them being better hygiene, knowledge of sexual reproductive health, different ways of abstinence, knowledge on Female Genital Mutilation and its effects on girl child, better relationships between boys and girls, and learners and teachers, better leadership skills among others