Rohnert Park’s Ashley Randolph took message of female empowerment to Africa

Helping empower females to succeed when faced with seemingly insurmountable odds seems to come naturally to Rohnert Park native Ashley Randolph. She spent two months this summer in Kenya helping young girls get an education and avoid contracting HIV, while also doing missionary work in communities set up for mothers with HIV to heal, thrive, learn a trade and become self-?sufficient.

Randolph says it’s been a bit of a culture shock, returning home to California after her last two-month trip, the second one she’s made. She’s beginning her graduate study in criminal justice at CSU Sacramento this fall and works at the Folsom Women’s Prison helping inmates increase their chances of getting work once released.

Randolph has been traveling to Africa with Health Education Africa Resource Team, or HEART, an American nonprofit helping Africans survive the HIV pandemic. HEART has a lodge in Nairobi used for headquarters and volunteer training. From there, Randolph traveled across Kenya, assisting with a project called Freedom for Girls, a project addressing the fact that many young African women miss school during their monthly menstrual cycle because of lack of information and supplies. “We were able to go to schools in impoverished areas and conduct health education and gather some research.”

Randolph visited schools in Nairobi, Kisii and Kisumu counties where she helped teach girls of menstruating age in elementary and high schools about the biology of menstruation and the reproductive system.

“We had large posters for visual effect,” said ?Randolph. They then passed out a year’s supply of sanitary napkins in a packet prepared for the girls with undergarments and an educational pamphlet.

“The whole idea of this Freedom For Girls project is to prevent HIV and to encourage girls to stay in school,” said Randolph. “Girls will miss school because of not having the proper care or knowledge to cater to their monthly menstruation,” she said.

As a result girls will drop out of school, putting them three times more at risk of developing HIV than girls who stay in school, she added.

Another of HEART’s projects, Women Equality Empowerment Project, or WEEP, provides medical care, nutrition, vitamins, shelter and access to ARV (antiretroviral drugs) drugs for mothers with HIV in an effort to slow the daunting numbers of those orphaned.

Once women are healthy enough, they’re taught a trade so they can become self-? sufficient. Randolph explained that some of the women live near a WEEP center, while others walk 3 to 4 hours every day to get to their WEEP center.

When women are sponsored through the WEEP program, their children are sponsored to go to school. Specific uniforms are required, so HEART assists with supplying uniforms, ensuring that children can continue their education.

“Not many of the girls that attended the schools we visited were WEEP daughters,” said Randolph, “but one day we went to Kibera and were able to do a health education and sanitary towel distribution for all of the daughters of the Kibera WEEP ladies.”

Randolph visited WEEP centers in Kibera, Gucha, Nyakach, Taita Upper, Taita Lower and Mombasa. She said there’s an average of 12 women that go through the 18-month to two-year program. She noted that there are also many active alumni who have graduated from the WEEP program and are still involved, teaching business skills and providing encouragement.

At one WEEP center, Randolph held a baby with HIV who had been conceived in the brutal gang rape of its mother. She said she is amazed by the grace and resilience of the HIV-positive women she encountered at the WEEP centers who are facing intense hardship. There is a strong bond present among the women there. They help with each other’s children and lend love and support to one another, Randolph said.

“When we visited the WEEP centers in Taita Upper, Taita Lower, and Mombasa County, we taught them things from the Bible, such as what it means to be a follower of Jesus, redemption and compassion,” said Randolph.

Randolph said she misses Kenya. She said there’s a deep inner joy among people there that she found infectious. She said she misses greetings that take some time, where meeting someone was almost a sacred act.

“They take your hand and they looked deep into your eyes, as if they’re trying to look into your soul, to truly see who you are,” she said.