Every week of the month one or two girls have to stay away from school when they are menstruating.
This means that each girl has to be away from school for three weeks in the 12 weeks that they have to be in school.
The impoverished girls of Budalang’i do not look forward to that time of the month. For them it means being stressed and missing out on school because these girls do not have access to materials that allow them deal with the bleeding.
[...]
Nerima Mugendi, 15, a Standard Eight pupil at Sufugwe Primary School {…] has to miss school for a few days every month because her family cannot afford sanitary towels. She is forced to use wastepaper and rags. She picks the wastepaper from the rubbish pit that is near the school latrines.
[...] Nerima’s mother, who has 16 children to take care of, earns less than Sh100 a day from manual jobs and cannot afford to buy her daughters sanitary towels. A packet costs at least Sh70.
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However, there is a glimmer of hope for the girls in Budalang’i. Dismayed by the situation, a group of 15 women, mainly teachers in the area have started a project to make reusable homemade pads. {…] In the past year, more than 1,000 girls from 11 schools in Budalang’i have benefited from “vichere” [made from cotton cloth and light plastic paper], homemade re-usable and washable sanitary pads.
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However, the re-usable pads have also come with some disadvantages. The paper used is sometimes very hard and causes burns [and] soap to wash soiled vicheres is hard to come by.
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In 2007 ActionAid trained 15 women (mainly teachers) and 55 girls drawn from 11 primary schools in Bundalang’i to make sanitary towels.
The project aims at having all the 34 primary schools in the district involved in making vichere.
Source: Evelyne Ogutu, The Standard, 28 Sep 2008
Am pleased to read what you are doing. Although i am a male have seen how our girls suffer because they lack pads. We as a community bassed youth group have a programme were we give girls pads so that we ensure that they go to school even if they are in periods. I would like you to visit our web site at http://www.shofco.org and read more of what we do. The challenge we have is finding funds to buy the pads. We are only praying to God that may be one day we will have someone to come and teach or train some of our girls in Kibera how to make the pads using the materials we have instead of buying them coz they aare too expensive for those who live here in Kibera.
Be blessed
Drop us a line at shofcokenya@yahoo.com.
This a great, unique and innovative way to go. Keep it to save us many as well as Mother nature. May God bless you!
This is a great way to help many girls. Does anyone know where one can find these pads in large scale in Nairobi, probably where they are made?
I am a lady being touched by how young girls are suffering when they receive their menses.I would like to know how to make the reusable sanitary pads since I have seen it more expensive to import those pads outside our country.I will appreciate if someone can help,so that we can put a smile to our daughters,women of tomorrow.Thank you.
One of the projects that has received a US$ 100,00 Gates Foundation grant in the 6th round of the Grand Challenges Explorations initiative is:.
Reusable Self-Decontaminating Sanitary Napkin
Joe Schneider of LAAMScience in the U.S. will develop a reusable and self-decontaminating menstrual napkin that uses photodynamic dyes to inactivate microbial growth on the fabric. The napkin would prevent the need for expensive disposable pads and tampons while offering a hygienic alternative that self-disinfects in the absence of soap or clean water.
S.H.E. is producing banana fiber pads in Rwanda and MSSRF in India is producing some with wood pulp – both projects a success. These enterprises are run by women as a micro-enterprise.
Hi all,
Re-usable sanitary towels have been my concern for some time. I work for FHI in nairobi whose focus is ti improve the lives of the most vulnerable in the society where science is improving lives. The programme focuses on reproductive health, and infectious diseases. We harnessed existing technical capacity within the organisation to develop a Lifeworks Re-usable sanitary towel which is retailing for kshs. 450/= a pack consisting of six pads, a polythene bag to keep the soiled pad and a holding bag. The disgn team consisted of a gynaecologist, a mechanical engineer, textile technologist and a behavioral scientists. The re-usable sanitary towels worked at the first test and girls love it. It is easy to wash and comfortable to wear. The pads are made in a factory where the Low -income women and adult orphans are employed thus by sponsoring a girl to reacive a pad results in sponsoring a vulnerable woman to support her family.
Hi Njagi, how can I learn more about your product?
Hi Njagi.
How can one source such pads to distribute to communities outside of Nairobi?
We have recently had a charity buy our washable/ reusable sanitary pads for several schools. the project was a HUGE success. If anyone is interrested in purchasing these pads (and we do offer a discount price for large quanities purchased) please contact http://www.mothernatureproducts.co.za or tel 0217829117. The pads can be washed and reused for several years. This has restored the dignity of the learners and reduced waste issues at the schools.
Has anyone in Kenya experimented making pads using banana fiber or wood pulp?
I would like to help these young women. How can I donate sanitary pads to these young ladies? Are there organizations in the United States who will be able to provide info on this project?
I suggest you contact ActionAid USA – http://actionaidusa.org/
Dear Karen,
I suggest Global Giving
You are all “heros”, dealing with very silent (in African culture), but sensitive issues (globally)! The issue of puberty, and menstrual hygiene deserves much more attention. I am a Director of a local non-profit, non-government organisation (www.luyodefo.org) operating in Kasese district in western Uganda, and one of the project we run is health education and reusable pad distribution actions in primary schools. We buy the pads from Afri-pads Uganda Limited (www.afripads.com), and the lack of funds limit the number of girls and women we reach. We will be having volunteers from the USA in July, so if there is any one who can donate the pads, these volunteers could help expedite the shipping. If anyone is interested to get involved in our work in some capacity, feel free to let me know.
i think it’s really good. its surprising when things we take for granted are difficulties for others.
I am working with a poor coastal community in Kenya. Just today I used the internet to draw 4 different designs for homemade sanitary pads. We have several ladies’ small business groups and some of the ladies sew. These pads can provide the ladies an income to support their families and at the same time help girls to stay in school. It may be that some of the girls need sponsorship to buy the pads in the first place, but we’ll see how it goes in the next few months.