Annual Report: 2019-2020
Tina Kampor & Kathleen Hanna (Pre-Covid Photo)
Togo appoints first female Prime Minister, Victoire Tomegah Dogbe
Activities
Peace Sisters saw excellent growth in our third year as a formally recognized 501(c)(3) charitable organization. Our work continued in the Dapaong region of Togo, West Africa under the following categories:
School Fees & Learning Materials
· 406 girls were supported with school fee payments & school supplies.
· Six of our students studied at the higher education level (i.e., University or Nursing School).
ID Cards for Access to Higher Education
· Many of our students do not have birth certificates because they were born at home. The lack of ID Cards later becomes a barrier to entry for enrolling in higher education, so we have continued the labor-intensive process of assembling this documentation.
· 240 girls’ documentation is completed.
Menstrual Supplies
· In order to prevent absenteeism from school buildings which lack bathroom facilities with running water, we provided menstrual pads to all of our girls.
· We continued to explore options for teaching local seamstresses to fabricate reusable menstrual supplies that will be more sustainable.
Covid Relief
· Along with some other local organizations in Dapaong, Peace Sisters pitched in by procuring hand washing stations and hand sanitizer. We also provided some PPE and instructions for how local people could produce masks and improvised forms of PPE.
Student Success
Due to the shutdown that began in March, many of the high stakes exams that students take in Togo were delayed this year, and we are only now receiving the results. We are so proud of all of our students who persevered during these trying circumstances, and we are especially thrilled to celebrate our eight girls who passed the strenuous Bac-2 exam that will allow them to graduate high school and move on to higher education opportunities!
Students receive menstrual products to prevent absenteeism.
Adapting to Covid
Distance learning is impossible when students do not even have electricity in their homes, so our girls lost out on months of education that they will never recover. Likewise, our planning for the 2020-21 school year has shifted in the following ways:
Study Guides
· We are procuring study guides for our students so they will have additional resources if schools ever have to shut down again.
Solar Lamps
· Due to the Covid shutdown, we had to postpone our annual distribution of solar lamps until the coming school year. These solar lamps are essential so our girls can study at night even if they don’t have access to electricity.
Health Insurance
· With increased concern for the health of our girls, we have purchased health insurance coverage that will allow them to access urgent care clinics this year.
Looking Ahead
The 2020-21 school year is just now getting underway in Togo, and we at Peace Sisters are expanding in the most sustainable ways possible. With continued support from our donors and collaboration with our Ambassador Kathleen Hanna, who promotes us through her T-shirt company Tees4Togo, we look forward to adding fifty girls to our rosters so we can support over 450 girls this year! We are humbled by the enthusiasm our supporters have shown us, and we look forward to many more achievements in the years ahead.