Since our last update we have made real progress!!
We are in discussions with another Pads4Girls partner in Africa who will now supply our first Pads4Girls kits at a much lower cost than we first anticipated. Initially we believed that each kit would cost us $30. In the last two weeks we have learned that by working with one of the Pads4Girls partners we will be able to reduce our costs to under $15 enabling us to support twice as many girls with the funds we have raised to date, with your support.
The really exciting part of the news is that we are also going to be training two groups to manufacture the pads and underwear themselves and distribute them to other communities in South Africa.
This development will not only help us keep girls in school because they have the menstrual supplies they need it will also provide much needed employment within the communities of Bergnek, Limpopo and Cradock, Eastern Cape.
“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”
Please help us by forwarding this update to friends, family and people you believe could help using e-mail or social media. Every message and action helps the communities we serve with your support to create the future they want for themselves and their families.
Open your Heart - Be a Part of the Solution
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We are happy to report that our Pads4Girls Program has received some additional support from our supplier and collaborator, Lunapads.com, who have committed to $1,000 to support our overall goal!! This generous support will allow us to make the first delivery of menstrual products to 50 girls in the community of Bergnek in the near future.
We need your help in spreading he word and putting out the message on Social Media to help us pick up momentum on Facebook and Twitter (@MyArmsWideOpen) - see the links below and go to the profiles and "Like" us or "Friend" as and send out a message asking your friends to support the program.
A BIG part of this program is about creating opportunity. Opportunities for young women who have the ability to change the way they see themselves and their communities. Opportunities for them to create the future they want for themselves and their children. To do that, the first step is to support them in every way we can to complete their schooling. In addition to that we provide them with other programs to build belief in themselves and add skills, which include our Iziko Labahlali program. You can find more information on the My Arms Wide Open website under the Cause: "My Mentor My Coach".
Ultimately we want to provide the opportunity for the girls we are supporting to create a business around Pads4Girls and produce the products they need locally. This will enable them to be able to produce the same quality for a lower price and create a sustainable business.
Please spread the word and help to keep girls in school. We are grateful for your continued support.
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Since we first launched our Pads4Girls initiative we have received additional requests from schools in South Africa in the Eastern Cape province. It is astounding how many girls really need help and how they are being put at a disadvantage because of something we in first nations countries simply take for granted - easy access to menstrual supplies.
In struggling and disadvantaged communities across the globe, youth face a number of significant challenges. Simply being able to find gainful employment is but one of those as they struggle to differentiate themselves to find and land jobs. The young girls and women in these communities face a number of additional challenges that put them at an even greater disadvantage.
The first, in a number of cases, is ridicule and bullying as a result of having their period start at an inopportune moment while at school and they are unprepared. This can and has resulted in girls not returning to school after the experience, an experience that should be about celebrating the fact that they are becoming young women, not feeling embarrassed and having their self-esteem severely damaged. They are not just caught off guard; their circumstance is such that they just cannot afford basic menstrual products to support themselves. In a significant number of cases their families can't even afford to provide more than one meal a day and for some a meal only every two days. The result of this is that these young girls and women then end up staying home for the duration of their period, missing a significant amount of school. They underachieve and cannot perform to the real level of their abilities because they just can't be in school for a week each month.
At My Arms Wide Open, we work alongside community to identify and develop opportunities that give mothers, youth and children the power to choose how they can support and build communities. In the process we partner with organizations like Lunapads and their Pads4Girls program to improve the circumstance of young woman so that they have the opportunity to be all they can be and to thrive.
We still need your help to meet the demand we have for products. A great way to help is to please distribute this message as widely as you can asking the people you know to help with a donation for 1 of the girls we are working to help.
Thank you for all you have already done.
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