In Limpopo, South Africa, young girls skip school during their menstrual period because they can't afford hygiene products. We provide washable, reusable pads to these girls so that they can stay in school. Longterm, we will help limit the ecological damage caused by disposable pads being thrown into rivers and on the streets in rural areas where there is no municipal trash collection. This project will also create jobs and seamstress training for local women in our Sewing Project to make pads.
In South Africa, in the impoverished area of Limpopo, we find underprivileged girls and young women are struggling with their menstruation cycles. Many are too poor to afford hygiene products each month. There is also the environmental factor of non-reusable pads being thrown into the rivers and land, as this part of rural Limpopo has no trash collection.
We aim to provide reusable/washable sanitary pads, produced by the Hlokomela Sewing Project using local women as seamstresses. We have an existing network for distribution as our not-for-profit medical clinics reach more than 20000 young women and girls annually. These pads will have a long operational use, therefore it will cut down on discarded disposable pads as non-recyclable, and hazardous, waste in the community.
The project will have a positive environmental impact because it will decrease the amount of waste dumped in rivers and on land by replacing disposable sanitary pads with washable, reusable pads in 1600 homes. It will have a cost-saving effect for local young women and girls by eliminating the monthly expense of sanitary pads and tampons. The project will also uplift these young women by providing training and jobs for them to become seamstresses.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
