Media personality Janet Mbugua has unveiled a heart-warming initiative to help Kenyans as the Covid-19 pandemic continues to bite.
Mbugua shared the plan to support women, girls and families reeling from the economic downturn brought about by the pandemic.
Through her Inua Dada foundation, Mbugua plans on donating 'dignity packs' containing sanitary pads, toilet paper and essential food items such as flour and cooking oil to households in need.
She announced that the first batch of 150 dignity packs would be distributed in Nairobi's Kibra area before hopefully bringing other informal settlements on board.
"Inua Dada is coming in because we already had some essentials that were supposed to go into activations with what we were doing; school visits and community visits giving girls and women who don't have access, access to these dignity kits.
"So I thought because we have these products, why don't we give them to girls, women and families who need them right now?
"Girls who are not in school don't have access to sanitary pads when they would have access to those products in a school setting. Women who are working every day on a daily wage and using some of that money to buy menstrual products don't have access to that now because they've been sent home.
"Men as well, in this setting, also don't have access to some food," she explained.
She noted that after the initial distribution in Kibra, they would seek the support of well-wishers to expand the program to other informal settlements such as Mukuru Kwa Njenga, Korogocho and Kangemi.
Mbugua disclosed that she had teamed up with partners classified as essential service providers to help in distributing the packs to families in light of various government restrictions and directives such as the curfew.
She further acknowledged the work of many other Kenyans who had launched similar initiatives to help their compatriots during the crisis.
One such initiative is the 'Save a Fellow Kenyan' campaign which was launched by one Pankaj Shah to help Kenyans, particularly low-income earners, access food in the period that the pandemic will keep them away from work and, therefore, without a steady income.
First shared on Facebook, the initiative quickly gained traction and has seen thousands of food hampers distributed in areas including Kibra, Mathare and Huruma in Nairobi.
The food hampers worth Ksh3,000 each contain, among other items, cooking oil, sugar, salt, beans, flour, soap and toilet paper as well as a box of fresh fruits and vegetables.
Watch Mbugua speaking on her plan below:
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