Lekcje tańca w Kenii - Redux

Dancer Doreen Atieno, 12, attends a ballet class led by Mike Wamaya at Project Elimu in Nairobi’s largest informal settlement of Kibera, on May 7, 2022. Project Elimu is a community-driven non-profit organization offering after-school arts education and a safe space to children living in Kibera. After schools closed during the pandemic Brenda continued to study at home but her life became increasingly challenging. Her mother lost her job doing laundry in a prosperous Nairobi neighborhood and she was hospitalized after an attack by her father. She dreams of finishing her education and becoming either a dancer or driver, but her family has struggled to pay her school fees and the school has sent her home until the debt is covered. Before COVID-19 struck, Kenya was improving by so many development measures, especially when it comes to girls. Then the pandemic created a perfect storm for a regression on girls' progress, which has downstream effects on a nation's health and economic viability. When families find their resources constrained -- and lots of Kenyan families have lost work and income because of Covid -- they're less likely to pay for their daughters' school fees, more likely to invest in sons, and more likely to need their daughters to help out with earning or childcare. Girls who aren't in school are more likely to marry as children or teenagers; they are more likely to get pregnant and give birth early; they are more likely to die during pregnancy, childbirth, or soon after; and they are more likely to live in poverty.