By Joy Ojochogwu Etubi | Project Leader
Dear Donors,
Imagine a girl sitting in class when she suddenly realizes that her period has started.
She has no pad in her school bag. There is no money in her pocket to buy one, and asking someone for help feels embarrassing. She begins to worry about staining her uniform and being laughed at by other students.
So, instead of concentrating on the lesson, she wants to go home.
For many girls in Nigeria, this is a familiar experience.
UNICEF has reported that 23% of girls in Nigeria had missed school in the previous 12 months because of their period. UNICEF has also documented cases of Nigerian schoolgirls using pieces of cloth, rags, or paper when they cannot afford sanitary pads.
For a girl from a low-income family, buying pads every month can become another expense her family struggles to meet. When food, transportation, rent, and school expenses are already competing for limited household income, menstrual products may be pushed aside.
But her period comes every month, whether her family can afford pads or not.
This is why we created this project.
With your support, we are setting up pad banks in schools so that girls can have somewhere to turn when they need a sanitary pad. The pads will be available free of charge, removing one more reason for a girl to leave school during her period.
Our goal is to support 1,000 girls with pads each month.
A pad may seem like a small item, but for a girl sitting nervously at her desk, it can mean staying in class instead of going home. It can mean writing her test, joining her classmates for lessons, and walking around school without constantly worrying about a stain on her uniform.
In 2025, UNICEF reported that menstrual health and hygiene support reached about 67,000 girls across more than 300 schools and health facilities in Nigeria. Their experience shows why schools need to be places where girls can manage their periods safely and continue learning.
We want the same experience for the girls we serve.
We want a girl to know that when her period comes, she does not have to hide, miss her lessons, or feel ashamed because her family cannot afford pads that month.
To everyone supporting this project, thank you for helping us keep girls where they belong during the school day: in the classroom, learning alongside their friends.
If this story speaks to you, please share our project with your family and friends. You can also start an individual fundraiser and invite others to help provide monthly pads for more girls.
A girl's period should never cost her a day at school.
Thank you for caring.
With gratitude,
Joy O. Etubi
By Joy Ojochogwu Etubi | Project Leader
By Joy Ojochogwu Etubi | Project Leader
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