Poor school girls will benefit from a major re-usable sanitary pads initiative, which aim to keep them in school. Already, Safaricom Foundation has donated Sh500,000 towards buying 455 sanitary kits dubbed “Huru Empowerment Kits”. Each kit includes a drawstring bag that also functions as a backpack with eight reusable sanitary napkins, three pairs of underwear, soap to wash the pads, information on proper pad use and HIV/Aids prevention and sexual and reproductive health, and a waterproof bag to safely store used pads. The sanitary kits are to be distributed to over 500 girls from girls schools in karachuonyo. The beneficiary schools Nyangajo girls ,Ogenya girls,Kendu muslim among others.
The area MP Hon.james Rege has been in the forefront in ensuring that girl child education is not hampered biological changes in the human cycle,and for this he collaborated with safaricom foundation to roll down this initiative which goes on yearly in the constituency.
“In most occasions, I use toilet paper as a protective measure during my periods. This is however uncomfortable as sometimes I stain my clothes,” she explains.
This is according to one of the students we spoke to during the occasion,and she says she would rather approach her female madam teacher for assistance instead of burdening her parents who also have very little income to get her the sanitary towels.
The girls are forced to scavenge for used and discarded pads or use old clothes, toilet paper, bits of mattresses, or sheets of newspaper as makeshift pads on most occasions. These unhealthy alternatives are however no substitute for clean, dependable pads.
Due to lack of sanitary kits, some of the girls also fail to attend classes whenever they are having monthly periods. This in the long run impacts negatively on their performance.
The safaricom foundation is spearheading this unhealthy living through providing the girls with the sanitary towels .
One Comment
This is a nice move by safaricom company