Leaving No Girl Behind

Keabetswe Letsholo is a social entrepreneur, philanthropist, and YALI RLC-SA Alumnus working to improve the lives of young girls in previously marginalized communities in South Africa. Her work is deeply rooted in the African worldview of “Ubuntu” and raising children as a community. Her personal experience as a teenage mother motivated Keabetswe to establish Tag-A-Sister.

Tag-A-Sister is a mentorship program she started in 2016 to provide mentoring sessions free of charge to young girls, particularly teenage mothers in her community in Hammanskraal, South Africa. Through Tag-A-Sister, Keabetswe runs Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights workshops with young girls from Sekampaneng Primary School. She donates sanitary towels and teaches the young girls about menstrual hygiene and sex education.

During the lockdown, schools were forced to temporarily close. As a result, several girls were affected since sanitary towels could not be delivered to them. This temporary setback challenged Keabestwe to think innovatively about her SRHR program and sanitary towel delivery strategy. Keabetswe and her team agreed on a drive by campaign and dropped off sanitary towels and other menstrual products such as feminine wet wipes to 45 girls.

With the phased in approach of schools, Keabetswe is optimistic that the SRHR project will resume with minimal changes to the program. Keabetswe and her team acknowledges the need for pandemic induced anxiety and panic programs to be included in the project.