In a Kenyan Village, Football Is Helping Girls Rewrite the Story of Their Periods

Co-published with Egab.

KISII, Kenya — On a sunny Saturday afternoon in Mosocho village, deep in Kenya’s Kisii County, the sharp whistle from a referee echoed across a dusty football field. Dozens of girls in brightly colored bibs chased a ball with determined energy, their cleats digging into the soil as they pivoted and sprinted. Laughter and cheers punctuated the air, which ended with hugs and high-fives among the young athletes.

But the match wasn’t quite over. Still dressed in their football kits, 30 teenage girls made their way to a nearby church. Inside, two whiteboards were set up, bearing neat illustrations of the female reproductive system and various menstrual products: reusable pads, period panties, and menstrual cups. The players settled down in the pews: It was time for their weekly menstrual class on menstrual hygiene — a safe space where no question was off-limits.

In a country where 42 percent of schoolgirls have never used sanitary pads, nearly half don’t finish high school, and one million girls miss four school days each month due to a lack of menstrual products, getting your period can mean falling behind—or dropping out. With 23 percent of girls married before 18, the stakes are high. This community-driven initiative is quietly disrupting that cycle.

Part of WASH4Sport, it uses football as a conduit to empower girls and restore menstrual dignity. So far, the initiative has reached nearly 6,500 girls across 25 schools in southwestern Kenya.

“We realized that football is a perfect hook,” said Jemimah Bosibori, a program facilitator with WASH4Sport. “Once the girls are engaged in the sport, they’re more comfortable opening up about things that are often seen as shameful or taboo.”

In these sessions, girls aged 13 to 16 learn about their menstrual cycles, how to use and care for reusable products, and how to manage their periods in daily life. The curriculum also addresses harmful myths — such as the belief that menstruating girls shouldn’t cook or touch livestock — and includes discussions on dealing with peer bullying and period-related shame in schools. Through local fundraising, small grants, and private donations, participants receive sanitary kits containing reusable pads, soap, and underwear. They are also taught to make their own reusable towels from local materials. Recently, the program began training girls to sew period panties, an affordable and sustainable option that helps keep them in school.

In rural Mosocho, approximately 186 miles west of Nairobi, many families live on less than a dollar a day, and menstrual products are a luxury. For girls here, getting their first period can mark the beginning of a painful transformation — from promising student to school dropout. The days missed each month because of periods add up over time, leading to a significant academic gap. 

According to a 2017 study, about 70 percent of Kenyan girls report a negative impact on their grades due to menstruation. Period stigma has, in some cases, led to tragic consequences, including the suicide of a 14-year-old schoolgirl after being shamed by classmates for menstruating. Meanwhile, 65 percent of the country’s 27 million women cannot afford sanitary towels, with 97 percent  of sanitary pads being imported. 

George Osoya, a local youth worker, founded WASH4Sport in response to these challenges faced by girls in Kenya, and found that combining sports with sexual and reproductive health education was a rare but effective way to dismantle the cultural stigmas surrounding menstruation, build confidence, and keep girls in school.

“Our goal is not just to help girls manage their periods. We want to stop the chain of poverty, early pregnancy, and child marriage that starts when a girl drops out of school because she doesn’t have a pad,” Osoya told More to Her Story.

WASH4Sport organizes inter-school and inter-community football leagues during school holidays, when the risk of sexual exploitation is statistically higher. “It’s during the breaks that many girls fall prey to older men offering them pads or money in exchange for sex,” said Osoya. “Football keeps them busy, but it also builds team spirit, confidence, and leadership.”

Filling a Critical Gap

For families living in poverty, menstruation is an expensive problem. A pack of commercial sanitary pads costs around $2 — double the daily income of many households in the area. Mothers like Janet Moraa, who works at a nearby tea plantation and earns roughly $60 a month, must choose between buying food and buying pads.

“I used to tear pieces from an old blanket for my daughters,” said Moraa. “But they were ashamed to go to school like that. Other students laughed at them.”

Now, all three of Moraa’s daughters are enrolled in WASH4Sport programs. “They attend school even during their periods. They feel proud, not ashamed,” she said. “This has given them back their dignity and their future.”

Thirteen-year-old Grace remembers the day she first menstruated while sitting in class. “I looked down and saw a red stain on my uniform. I ran to the toilet and cried,” she said. “I was so scared the boys would laugh at me.”

Her mother, unable to afford sanitary pads, gave her torn rags to use. Grace skipped school for three days. That’s when she heard of WASH4Sport from her church’s pastor. “Then I joined the football group. Now I get free pads, and I’m not afraid anymore.”

Dignity Beyond the Pad

Teresia Nyachera said the initiative was nothing short of life shaving for her only daughter.

“I could not afford to buy sanitary towels for my daughter. She had to find other means of getting them, and this led her to a man who impregnated her,” she said.

“She dropped out of school and got married at 13 years of age,” Nyachera said with regret, adding that WASH4Sport helped coordinate her daughter’s divorce with the church, as she was underage, and helped her return to school.

Osoya believes that as he leads by example in supporting women and girls’ menstrual dignity, we can encourage other Kenyan men to do the same.

“I am a true example that men can play a huge role in ending period poverty by advocating for change and combating the stigma surrounding menstruation for their mothers, wives and daughters,” Osoya said.

Osoya said the church has supported the project by mobilizing the community to participate in the initiatives. “Since this is a taboo and a culturally-sensitive topic, the church has been instrumental in helping us mitigate the biggest challenge we face, which is resistance from a section of the community,” he explained, adding that his team ultimately “looks for a future where girls, boys and parents can engage in open discussions and confide, thus empowering them for the better”.

As the footballers in Mosocho gather for a final group chant before heading home — bags of sanitary kits slung over their shoulders and fresh grass stains on their knees — it's clear that for these girls, the game is changing in more ways than one.