Help Jeyetik fight period poverty in Lebanon
Donation protected
ENGLISH
(version français en dessous / French version below)
At the moment you’re reading this, a mother is choosing a loaf of bread to feed her children over a pack of pads for herself or for her daughters.
This is the unspoken reality of Lebanon, the most inflated country in the world.
Almost three-quarters of the population are living in poverty. Papers talk about every form of poverty.
What about every single girl who’s dreading the day she’ll start her period this month?
This is the kind of poverty we don’t talk about, and we don’t know about.
The social stigma around periods only makes it worse, as mothers secretly improvise alternatives.
Girls are being taught how to use socks and how to cut their clothes to use it as a menstrual pad.
The result of unhygienic alternatives?
Half of the girls are using their pads for longer, making them more prone to infections.
The other half are already suffering from physical problems.
And the result of period poverty?
Girls are skipping school and work. You know what that means in a few years.
How Jeyetik started
Since the unfortunate August 4th explosion, Jeyetik, that was a personal initiative by me Myriam Skaf, turned to a nation-wide sisterhood. Equally passionate and aware, girls gathered their friends and started collecting and distributing pads to the women in need in their communities. Together we covered Beirut, Tripoli, Beqaa, Metn and Keserwan.
We partnered with international and local NGOs who put their trust in us.
8,000 pads and tampons went to:
• The people who lost their houses due to the explosion.
• The two biggest shelters for abused women with months’ worth of supply.
• 12 carefully chosen rural areas with the first period poverty mobile film festival Jeyetna.
• Migrant workers and LGBT center.
• Parents texting us every day since last year.
What made us ask for your help
3 girls out of 4 can’t afford pads says Plan International recent statistics. A pack of 10 pads went from 5,000LBP up to 30,000LBP. Consequently, Jeyetik is spreading from word of mouth more than ever.
How we operate
To get the best quantity-quality-price deal, we buy pads in bulks from a local supplier. The 90% devaluation of our Lebanese Lira LBP makes foreign currency priceless:
Your $20 cover up to 5 girls for 8 months. ($20 gets us 40 pack of pads)
The donations were collecting will go to Lebanese girls: So they don’t miss any day of school or work and feel behind their male counterparts. Period poverty indeed leads to the alienation of women from society: month after month of skipping their school, girls tend to drop out, and their chances of getting married uneducated at an early age rises.
We also aim to give Lebanese girls and women enough pads to cover for their periods for the next few months, not just for a months.
Surviving is an understatement when we’re writing this description between hours long of electricity cuts and working full time jobs to get a bit of food.
(version français en dessous / French version below)
At the moment you’re reading this, a mother is choosing a loaf of bread to feed her children over a pack of pads for herself or for her daughters.
This is the unspoken reality of Lebanon, the most inflated country in the world.
Almost three-quarters of the population are living in poverty. Papers talk about every form of poverty.
What about every single girl who’s dreading the day she’ll start her period this month?
This is the kind of poverty we don’t talk about, and we don’t know about.
The social stigma around periods only makes it worse, as mothers secretly improvise alternatives.
Girls are being taught how to use socks and how to cut their clothes to use it as a menstrual pad.
The result of unhygienic alternatives?
Half of the girls are using their pads for longer, making them more prone to infections.
The other half are already suffering from physical problems.
And the result of period poverty?
Girls are skipping school and work. You know what that means in a few years.
How Jeyetik started
Since the unfortunate August 4th explosion, Jeyetik, that was a personal initiative by me Myriam Skaf, turned to a nation-wide sisterhood. Equally passionate and aware, girls gathered their friends and started collecting and distributing pads to the women in need in their communities. Together we covered Beirut, Tripoli, Beqaa, Metn and Keserwan.
We partnered with international and local NGOs who put their trust in us.
8,000 pads and tampons went to:
• The people who lost their houses due to the explosion.
• The two biggest shelters for abused women with months’ worth of supply.
• 12 carefully chosen rural areas with the first period poverty mobile film festival Jeyetna.
• Migrant workers and LGBT center.
• Parents texting us every day since last year.
What made us ask for your help
3 girls out of 4 can’t afford pads says Plan International recent statistics. A pack of 10 pads went from 5,000LBP up to 30,000LBP. Consequently, Jeyetik is spreading from word of mouth more than ever.
How we operate
To get the best quantity-quality-price deal, we buy pads in bulks from a local supplier. The 90% devaluation of our Lebanese Lira LBP makes foreign currency priceless:
Your $20 cover up to 5 girls for 8 months. ($20 gets us 40 pack of pads)
The donations were collecting will go to Lebanese girls: So they don’t miss any day of school or work and feel behind their male counterparts. Period poverty indeed leads to the alienation of women from society: month after month of skipping their school, girls tend to drop out, and their chances of getting married uneducated at an early age rises.
We also aim to give Lebanese girls and women enough pads to cover for their periods for the next few months, not just for a months.
Surviving is an understatement when we’re writing this description between hours long of electricity cuts and working full time jobs to get a bit of food.
Sources :
*According to the last UN report on poverty in Lebanon, the poverty rate has gone from 25% to a staggering 74% :
https://news.un.org/en/story/2021/09/1099102
https://news.un.org/en/story/2021/09/1099102
*According to NGO Plan International's report, 3 out of 4 women in Lebanon cannot afford period products :
https://plan-uk.org/media-centre/economic-crisis-in-lebanon-making-period-products-unaffordable-for-majority-of-women
FRANÇAIS********************************************
Au moment où vous lisez cela, une mère doit choisir entre acheter du pain pour nourrir ses enfants ou un paquet de serviettes hygiéniques pour elle-même ou pour ses filles.
Voilà la réalité du Liban, le pays qui connaît la plus grand hyperinflation au monde.
Presque trois-quarts de la population vit dans la pauvreté. Les journaux parlent constamment de la pauvreté sous toutes ses formes.
Mais qui parle des filles qui craignent chaque mois le début de leurs règles ?
Personne ne parle pas de cette forme de pauvreté, et elle reste méconnue. Le tabou des règles ne fait qu’empirer la situation, et les mères doivent improviser des alternatives en secret. Les filles apprennent désormais à utiliser des chaussettes, ou à découper leurs vêtements pour en faire des serviettes hygiéniques.
Le résultat de ces alternatives insanitaires ?
La moitié des filles utilisent leurs serviettes hygiéniques plus longtemps, s’exposant aux infections.
L’autre moitié souffre déjà de problèmes physiques.
Et le résultat de la précarité menstruelle ?
Les filles ne vont pas à l’école ni au travail. Vous savez ce que cela signifie pour elles dans quelques années.
Comment Jeyetik a commencé
Depuis la malheureuse explosion du 4 août 2020, Jeyetik, ma propre initiaitve personnelle à moi, Myriam Skaf, est devenu une sororité nationale. Passionnées et renseignées, des jeunes filles ont commencé à récolter et distribuer des serviettes hygiéniques aux femmes qui en avaient besoin dans leur communautés. Ensemble nous avons couvert les zones de Beyrouth, Tripoli, la Beqaa, le Metn, et Keserwan.
Nous avons travaillé en partenariat avec des ONG locales et internationales qui nous ont fait confiance.
8 000 protections hygyéniques ont été données :
• Aux personnes qui ont perdu leur logement à cause de l’explosion
• Aux deux plus grand refuges pour femmes battues du Liban, avec des stocks pour plusieurs mois
• 12 zones rurales choisies avec soin grâce à Jeyetna, le premier festival mobile sur la précarité menstruelle
• A des travailleuses migrantes et des centres LGBT
• Aux parents qui nous contactent tous les jours depuis l’année dernière
Pourquoi nous avons besoin de votre aide
3 filles sur 4 n’ont plus les moyens de s’acheter des protections hygyééniques, d’après les statistiques de Plan International. Un paquet de 10 serviettes hygiéniques est passé de 5 000 LPB à 30 000 LPB et plus. Par conséquent, Jeyetik, plus que jamais, agit pour faire connaître le problème de la précarité menstruelle.
Comment nous opérons
Pour obtenir le meilleur rapport qualité-quantité-prix, nous achetons des serviettes hygiéniques en gros auprès d’un fournisseur local. La dévaluation de la Livre Libanaise (LPB) de 90% rend les monnaies étrangères indispensables.
Votre don de 20$ couvrira les protections hygiéniques d'une fille pour 8 mois. (20$ nous permettent d’acheter 40 paquets de serviettes hygiéniques)
Les dons que nous collectons irons aux filles du Liban, pour qu’elles ne manquent aucun jour d’école ou de travail, et qu’elles ne se sentent pas en retrait par rapport à leur camarades masculins. La précarité menstruelle mène en effet à l’aliénation des femmes dans la société : à force de manquer l’école mois après mois, les filles ont tendance à abandonner leur éducation, et leurs chances de se marier jeunes et inéduquées augmentent.
Nous avons pour but de donner aux filles et aux femmes du Liban assez de protections hygiéniques pour leur suffire pas seulement pour ce mois-ci, mais pour les mois à venir.
Appeler cela de la survie est un euphémisme quand nous écrivons cette description entre de longues heures de coupures d’électricité et des emplois à temps plein qui nous permettent à peine d’acheter un peu de nourriture.
Sources :
*D'après le dernier rapport de l'ONU sur la pauvreté au Liban, le taux de pauvreté est passé de 25% à 74% :
https://news.un.org/en/story/2021/09/1099102
*D'après l'ONG Plan International, 3 femmes sur 4 au Liban n'ont pas les moyens d'acheter des protections hygiéniques :
https://plan-uk.org/media-centre/economic-crisis-in-lebanon-making-period-products-unaffordable-for-majority-of-women
Organizer
Leyane Ajaka Dib Awada
Organizer
Paris