By James Waruiru & Penina Muthoni | Project Leaders
Dear friend,
Please receive love greetings from Kiambu County in Kenya, East Africa. This is just a short report to update you on how we are using your donations and the impact of the project to our beneficiaries. We are glad to have you in our team and for your continued support.
Recently we went to collect testimonies from our beneficiaries in one nearby school, we had gone to meet the girls in preparation of this report. The reception from the girls was hilarious, all were happy to meet our team and tell of impact stories of how this project has changed their lives for the better….one girl called Mary told us besides her academic grades rising she was also the girl’s athletics team captain that won the junior championship in 2014. All this she attributed to this program because she is able to stay in class during her menstrual periods and as well engage in extra-curricular activities and now she felt motivated to pursue her dream of becoming a professional runner and emulate many Kenyan runners who are known to be record breakers in long races world over.
However in the midst of this joyous atmosphere the boys from the same school were not happy because of our visit, shockingly they yelled at us and threw objects at us, so we wondered…why…? We decided to find out from one lad named John who told us the boys were not happy because we give girls sanitary towels who dispose used napkins everywhere, he reported to us that he once stumbled on a used...bloody napkin on the play ground a thing that disgusted him and his peers so badly...we could read displeasure from his tone and facial expresion...
This incident led us to dig deeper on the effects of bad disposal of menstrual waste in our community. The findings were shocking. On a larger picture we learnt that an average woman will throw away 10-15,000 pads and applicators in her lifetime. Most of these will be sent to landfill sites or via sewage treatment plants will be sent out into our oceans, potentially damaging marine life and washing up on beaches, lakes and rivers.
Excerpt from The Plastic Sea by Paul Watson.
“A June 2006 United Nations environmental program report estimated that there are an average of 46,000 pieces of plastic debris floating on or near the surface of every square mile of ocean. (Read more at http://lunapads.com/why-switch)
Excerpt from American Petroleum Institute
According to the American Petroleum Institute, 3.5 billion gallons of oil were used to produce the 18 million throwaway diapers and pads that Lehrburger studied in 1991. Approximately 7 billion gallons of oil each year are required to feed our disposable-diaper/pads habit today, almost four times as much oil as is estimated to be in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. In 1991, the Landbank Consultancy, an independent environmental agency in the United Kingdom, reviewed and evaluated the available research on the environmental impact of throwaway pads. Their conclusion: compared to cloth napkins, throwaway towels use 20 times more raw materials, three times more energy, and twice as much water; they generate 60 times more waste.”
Orther compelling reasons to start making reusable towels were affordability, according to http://www.pinkrobin.co.uk/shop/faqs.php#2 in an average year a woman spends around a minimum of 133 US$ (12,000 shillings) on disposable sanitary towels or tampons while the reusable kit would cost around 10$ or less and can last to 2 years or more if properly washed.
Health reasons - Some disposable pads contain latex (to make the plastic soft), dioxins (a carcinogen left from the bleaching process), sodium polyacrylate crystals (Super-absorbent crystals, which are known to be a skin irritant). Many women have no problems with this, but some have reactions ranging from mild to extreme irritation. Many women are not even aware that their symptoms are being caused by the use of their disposables. Disposable pads can contribute to yeast infections due to the pads creating a moist environment. Tampons can dry out the vagina, which can lead to irritation and change the pH balance, which in turn can cause thrush. Rayon tampons also carry the risk of Toxic Shock Syndrome (TSS), a potentially life threatening problem. Cloth pads can help combat thrush in some women as they can keep the area more cool and dry. The organic cotton pads we propose to produce are able to limit the amount of chemical exposure.
We now therefore have strong resolve to start a sewing centre where we will start to make reusable, washable sanitary napkins. We hope the project will as well employ several poor women and youths in production and distribution. We have several pledges for support and our own county government has pledged to buy kits from us once we begin producing to supplement what we will give out as charity.
We are reaching to you for support, critique and advice. This far we would not have reached without you donations. Starting with only one girl in 2007 and now providing for over 1000 girls is a milestone we have reached together. We are planning to have a project page on global giving to raise funds exclusively for sewing centre and once it is approved and live on Global Giving we will send you the link and seek your support.
Again on behalf of our entire team and the beneficiaries…we want to say “THANK YOU”
By James Waruiru | Project Manager
By James Waruiru | Project Leader
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
