School Girls in Africa: Part 2
If you haven’t read about the issue (or seen the recent Always commercials) there is an immense problem with girls in developing countries who miss school due to being unable to cope with their menses in a clean and comfortable manner, often resorting to using twigs, tree bark, grass and rags. Always’ answer to this is the Protecting Futures campaign. As discussed in the previous entry, disposables are not a real or sustainable solution to this problem.
Goods 4 Girls is the brainchild of Deanna Duke (known online as eco-blogger Crunchy Chicken), who has taken matters into her own hands by connecting washable pad manufacturers, like us, and their customers, with groups working directly with girls in African nations. Read her original blog post about the disposables donations issue here.
The issue of school girls in Africa has been on our radar for some time. Over the past 5 years, we have been contacted by many amazing women about girls in all parts of the world who need our help. Because we’ve never been able to come up with a practical and reliable solution to connect our efforts with our customers, we have simply been donating pads as requested. To date, we have sent pads to Zimbabwe (on numerous occasions), Kenya, Swaziland, Uganda, Mali, Ecuador and Mexico. We also have a good friend working in several local communities in Africa teaching them how to sew their own Lunapads. So, we know first hand how real this problem is.
Thanks to Deanna, we are supporting Goods 4 Girls in two ways: by sending an initial shipment of Lunapads, nylon purses and Lunapanties to girls Africa and by creating our new Goods 4 Girls Lunapads Kit and Goods 4 Girls Lunapanties Kit so that customers can purchase them for donation.
According to Goods 4 Girls’ research:
• Over 800,000 school girls in Kenya are too poor to afford the sanitary pads they need to stay in school during their menses
• Nearly three million school days are lost by girls in Kenya due to lack of sanitary pads
• Such girls miss on average 4 days of schooling each per month due to menstruation, which is equivalent to missing 17% of the entire school year, or nearly 1.5 months.
• A girl in primary school between grades 6 and 8 loses 18 learning weeks out of 108 weeks
• 70.9% of girls attend school up to 8th Grade; by 9th grade only 29% remain in school
• In total, school-age girls across Kenya lose nearly 3 million school days in a year due to a lack of sanitary pads.
The collective implication of these girls missing out on their educations is staggering. I’m having trouble coming up with the exact source for this statement (the UN? Stephen Lewis?), but I have heard it convincingly argued that the single most impactful thing that can be done to help everything in developing nations, from the environment to AIDS to war and conflict is to EDUCATE WOMEN. Makes sense to me, and if anyone out there can help me with a research citation I would feel better.
Want to help? We have created a new “Goods 4 Girls” Kit (pictured below) and a Goods 4 Girls Lunapanties Kit that customers can purchase to have sent to a girl in need by the Goods 4 Girls organization. The Kits contain enough pads (or underwear) and liners (plus a nylon pouch to store extras) to get a girl through a few days of light to heavy flow - and back to the classroom! Please note that kits will be sent directly to Goods 4 Girls and are a specially discounted “non profit” price in order to provide maximum value to the girls. Thank you Deanna, for this fabulous humanitarian contribution and thank you so much to all of you who choose to make a difference by purchasing them!
March 6th, 2008 at 9:24 am
Really great kits! Thanks for making this option available.
March 6th, 2008 at 12:06 pm
I don’t understand why this is suddenly an issue. What did women & girls in these parts of Africa traditionally use for menstrual protection? Is it a legacy of colonization that has left them unable to effectively deal with their periods?
Also, even though I’ve been using The Keeper and reusable pads for over 15 years (and have sold both), I wonder about the sanitary implications of promoting reusable menstrual products in a part of the world with high HIV/AIDS prevalence. Will the safe handling of bloodied cloth be taught along with the donated Lunapads? Will women be instructed not to share their pads with family members? Will women even have ready access to washing pads? These are my initial questions with respect to promoting reusable cotton pads in Africa. I’m torn about the issue. I think it could be a great idea, but I think it needs to be approached responsibly.
March 6th, 2008 at 12:51 pm
To Caro: you’ve made some very good points. I’m sure this has been an issue for some time now, it’s that the world is just now waking up to what is happening on that continent. But in regards to your issues, Deanna has answered them in the FAQ on her site: http://www.goods4girls.org/2008/02/faq.html and the groups Goods 4 Girls are working with seem very committed to ensuring this is done right.
Lunapads has donated pads previously through other organizations, so we’ve heard first-hand from people working in Africa that since supplies can be so scarce in some areas girls would take pieces of whatever they could find - sometimes foam from their beds or bits of cloth, often previously used…and when that ran out they’d just stay home.
March 6th, 2008 at 5:47 pm
I see where you are coming from Caro. But I do think that HIV blood soaked disposable pads would cause just as much of an issue, if not more of one!
March 13th, 2008 at 4:52 pm
Hello all,
I just wanted to clarify that the pads being distributed are not going to girls with HIV or AIDS. I have been asked specifically by aid workers regarding providing the pads to women living with HIV/AIDS as they feel it is very important for them to have adequate supplies to control their own menstrual blood. In other words, it is less of a health risk to have something like Lunapads because they can contain their menstrual flow better than with using inadequate materials.
This issue warrants further discovery and I have asked one of my contacts to discuss the issue with the healthcare workers in Uganda for more information.
Deanna Duke
Director, Goods 4 Girls