Submitted by Sylvia Biira on 17 August, 2010 - 16:54
Did you know that in Uganda, what should be a right of passage into womanhood is often a gateway to dropping out of school, sexual harassment and early marriages?
In developing countries, the issues regarding menstruation and lack of access to sanitary products are often kept silent. Poor families must face the choice of whether to buy pads for their adolescent daughter or food for their family. Most young girls and even their families are unable to afford proper sanitary napkins. As a result, young girls are using unhealthy materials such as cloth rags, sponge pieces, as well as rolled up pieces of newspaper to manage their period.
Most often, most girls face the embarrassment of blood leaking through their clothes (spotting). Besides “spotting”, the use of unhealthy sanitary materials can still lead to infections and even cervical cancer. This lack of protection leads many girls to miss up to five days of school and work each month, with many forced to drop out of school entirely hence forced to marry at a tender age, and or develop reproductive infections. Absenteeism due to menstruation - because girls do not have access to sanitary pads, can also lead to falling grades – accelerating illiteracy among women in poor communities.
This project will not only ensure retention and increase the chance of academic success for Ugandan girls in primary schools but also seek to promote earth friendly solutions. Quite often in Uganda and else where in less developed countries, trash is tossed on the ground both in and outside of the city. As you can imagine, a weeks worth of used pads would not go unnoticed on the dirty roads of a rural village. Reusable menstrual pads have no harmful effect on the environment if properly cared for, can be reused for up to 12 months, hence reduced environmental pollution.
Are you a supporter for girl child education, women’s health and rights? Join us wherever you are to provide menstrual kits and reproductive health awareness to young teen girls in primary schools to reduce the rate of dropouts. Through project Luhwahwa Youth Development Foundation (LUYODEFO) focuses on making menstruation an easier and healthier experience for young girls to continue schooling and also seek environment friendly solutions by avoiding used pad disposal on insufficient land!
If you need more information on or would like to support this project, feel free to contact Ms Biira Sylvia, Chairperson- LUYODEFO via e-mail: luyodefo@hotmail.com
Comments
Thank you for your post - your project sounds important and I am glad you posted on Kabissa about it.
Can you please post more details about the project, perhaps with some links to more information, and an email address or other contact information for those who are interested in getting involved?
In solidarity,
Tobias
Hello Eigen,
Thanks for your comment about the project i posted. I have just updated the post by inserting our e-mail contact. I hope this will enable all interested in getting involved to quick stay in touch.
Great post, Sylvia.
Thank for shedding some light on these issues young girls are facing in Africa. Great analysis.
Koffi
Hello Koffi,
Thanks for your time reading our post. I know and believe we are trying to shed light on the practical needs faced by women/ girl, which many people at the forefront to fight for, protect and promote women's rights have not identified.
Even with greatest analysis, great efffort is in fact required to making the issue known (publicly discused) and its solutions jointly drawn at family and community levels.
Hello ms Silvia,
I read your report on the plight of teen girls in Uganda and your efforts to help them at Kabissa site. This is really touching as I also attend to the needs and issues bordering teenage girls in my environment (Lagos, nigeria) through the project called LADIES TALK. Last Sunday, 22 August,2010, a number of teenage girls were given disposal pads, bras, pants and under gowns.
Please, can you give the necessary information on how LADIES TALK for teen girls can come in to assist with your vision for the teenage girls in Uganda.
-D.O. Olanrewaju
Hello Olanrewaju,
Thanks for time reading our post and your interest to partner with us by engaging LADIES TALK to assist with our vision for the tennage girls in Uganda. I will get to very soon to see how we can jointly assist the teenage girls in Uganda.
Dear supporters,
It is interesting to tell users at this platform that many people around the globe are getting ready to support this project. Docras in Lagos, Nigeria has registered LADIES' TALK group, willing to come in and help us reach young people in Uganda. Shey, the Outreach Editor for Lip Gloss Magazine, also wants to feature LUYODEFO in Lip GLoss such that many more pepole can learn about us and support our programs. Why shouldn't you be the first to make lasting contributions to this project??
Many thank yous to this platform for providing our online presence and contact.
LUYODEFO this week ordered the purchase of 50 menstrual kits from AFRIpads Uganda Limited. Very lucky, AFRIpads is having a “back to school” promotion right now for the month of February, so communicated to us that they will provide the kits at 50% price discount. We are happy to buy 100 kits instead of the proposed 50 kits, hence we will be able to benefit 100 teen girls in 2 primary school instead of 50 girl in 1 school.
Donate now to enable us buy many more menstrual kits at 50% price discount - a promotion end with this month. If you have any thing to say please e-mail me at: luyodefo@hotmail.com
Dear Supporters,
I am pleased to update you on sanitary ware project providing menstrual kits and health education and counselling to young girls in primary schools in Kisinga, Kasese, western Uganda. We were able to purchase 125 afripad kits and support 120 girls in 3 schools. This was a pilot scheme, but the communites are impressed by this initiative, giving hope to young girls to go to, stay in, and finish foundation education level.
Sorry i have not been able to bring you picture. We have a serious problem of lack of a camera. We hired a digital camera, but it was impossible to upload picture, as well as have them printed.
We bought more 100 menstural kits and we now support over 200 young girls in 4 primary schools. Here is a few pictures of the teens benefiting
Luhwahwa Youth Development Foundation (www.luyodefo.org) will be launching the “CLOTH PADS, SHARE THE BENEFIT” Campaign on 30th April, 2012. We are looking for $2,500 to buy over 600 afripad menstrual kits to be distributed during the campaign. We invite you to be part of this campaign in any way you can afford ranging from spreading the message; designing posters/ flyers/ t-shirts/caps we can use during the campaign; researching and contacting organizations that can support the cloth pads project; buying or donating a pad to be given out during the campaign; or starting fundraising events where proceeds can be donated for buying the pads.
We have been piloting the introduction and use of reusable cloth pads among girls/ women in 2011. Even when we were working with very limited resources, the project is creating impact, and the demand for our services is growing among girls/women, school leadership and parents. With locally sourced funds, we were able to procure 230 menstrual kits from Afri-pads Uganda limited (www.afripads.com) that benefited 200 girls in 4 primary schools and 30 women “as the control group”, which involved women from the community and senior women teachers in our partner schools.
During our pilot project in 2011 in 4 primary schools, we found out that half of adolescent girls consider it a disease and don't know how to deal with it. The girls were more often absent from school than boys because they had no sanitary products to use during their periods. Instead of braving embarrassing leaks and stains at school, they stayed home, missing up to almost 4 days a month (12 days in just one school term). This makes them fall behind in their studies, fail and repeat classes, and eventually drop out of school. It was also found that most women and girls use old cloths and sponge, which they wash and hide. Also that most of the women and girls catch many vaginal infections after attaining puberty. The reasons for these infections are usage of dirty and unsanitized rags kept from view in closed spaces, which often stay moist, breeding bacteria, which causes infections - health hazards.
LUYODEFO wishes to promote the health, privacy and dignity of women. While providing cloth sanitary pads can help increase retention of girls in schools, hence improve their academic performance and low the rate of school drop-out, it also reduces the stigma of menstruation and increases understanding of how to use cheap hygienic sanitary materials.
We your helping hand, we can together make a difference in the lives of girls and women in rural resource poor setting.
You have a question, need further information or would like to help, feel free to email us via luyodefo@hotmail.com, or ndungosamuel@yahoo.com
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