Saalt + Wiser School : Partnering for Menstrual Health

The backstory on the story about how one company in USA is impacting the lives of girls in Migori County, one menstrual cup at a time.

When I received an email on May 26th 2020 asking me if I was available to shoot for Saalt in Muhuru Bay, little did I know that almost exactly one year later to the day, I would be sharing the story on what was a very exciting and mind opening project for me.

For starters, I knew nothing about menstrual cups. I’d heard about sanitary pads and tampons; but menstrual cups… What are those!

So I combed the web and found stories of women saying how they are most comfortable period care they’ve tried, the ease of use, hygiene and freedom that comes with wearing them.

In the process, I also got to learn a lot about Saalt and the work they do donating period care and funding initiatives in menstrual health, education, and sustainability.

One of the institutions that Saalt has donated menstrual cups to is Wiser Girls School in Muhuru Bay, Migori County.

Muhuru Bay is where Kenya and Tanzania meet on Nam Lolwe. I had to Google that as well.

The project brief

The brief for the project was simple : tell the story of Saalt’s partnership with Wiser Girls through the lives of three pupils.

At the onset of the project, I questioned if the girls would be comfortable talking about menstrual health to a man. I proposed I take the general shots and have a lady filmmaker with me to conduct the interviews with the girls. Zack Fowler, the school’s Executive Director reassured me that the girls are trained to confidently speak about any issue that they can relate to. Going by their responses in the final film, this is very true.

It speaks volumes about the education and life skills pupils at Wiser Girls’ receive.

Learning and filming during a pandemic

With the project happening with Coronavirus social distancing recommendations in place, I chose to shoot alone to minimise chances of contamination.

Editing of the footage was to be done by a separate team in the US so all I had to do was shoot, catalog the footage into clearly labelled folders and upload.

After a 6+hour drive from Nairobi, I got to Wiser Girls on the evening of 16th November 2020. My temperature was checked and hands sanitised at the gate before I drove in.

The school really stands out from other facilities in the area. There is a warm welcoming atmosphere that made me feel like an appreciated visitor and not a stranger.

This was the first time I was meeting the Principal Mrs Dorcas Oyugi, a decorated educator who has been with the school since it started in 2010. We planned how the filming and photography was to happen the following day.

We identified three pupils who we would use to tell the Saalt story.

Hillary Rodham Kacheri.

Sarah Samwel.

Herine Joan Awila.

I was to capture footage of learning and extra curricular events in the school, as well as the school environment.

I shot with the Canon R5 and Sony A7iii. Interviews were done using Rode Go wireless system with a Rode lavalier mic.

I asked to be a fly on the wall when filming during lessons. The only thing that changed was the seating of the pupils, to positions where I could see them clearly.

One of the lessons was held outside the classrooms under the shade of tall lovely trees.

I think I would have concentrated more if lessons were held outside during my time.

Supporting needy students

Under the Ministry of Education Coronavirus guidelines, only form four students were in school when I was filming. Learning was yet to resume for the rest.

With many students coming from needy families, the school put together care packages for them to pick from school.

These packages went a long way in supporting not only the students, but their families as well.

Extra curricular activities

One dance that kept us grooving through 2020 was the Jerusalema routine. Challenges were taken by individuals and organisations worldwide and Wiser wasn’t left out.

I got to film the students taking the challenge with no intention of it being part of the final edit; but I’m very happy the editors found a way the dancing could be used to tell the Saalt + Wiser story.

Additional shots

In February 2021, before KCSE begun, I returned to Wiser Girls for additional filming and photography. I captured the girls interacting with the menstrual cups which wasn’t in the shot list during the first round of content gathering.

I now present to you the final product, a collaborative effort between Kenya and the USA, just like the Wiser Girls + Saalt partnership.

I’m forever grateful to the team at Saalt for believing in my ability to tell a story on menstrual health despite me being a man, and to Wiser Girls’ students and administration for the immeasurable assistance (especially the fried fish) in making sure this story was told.