Menstrual Products for Girls in Rural South Sudan

Thank you for taking the time to visit our GoFundMe page. We are Refugee To Save A Nation(RSN Foundation), a registered Nonprofitable organisation that focuses on women’s empowerment and girls’ education. We're a group of refugees who have excelled in different professional fields who advocate and raise funds specifically for women’s empowerment and girls’ education. We're all volunteers and take no expenses so every fee or donation and every penny in our RSN Foundation goes directly to women’s empowerment and girls’ education projects.

Summary

In many societies around the world taboos associated with menstruation combined with an overall culture of silence around the topic limit women and girls’ ability to fully and equally participate in society, undermining their overall social status and self-esteem. The awareness of menstrual hygiene and the use of sanitary napkins is virtually absent in IDP areas of South Sudan.

The problem

The challenge menstruating girls and women face is often less tangible than simply the availability of infrastructure and is rooted in social norms and beliefs. The taboos and stigma attached to menstruation lead to an overall culture of silence around the topic, resulting in limited or inaccurate information on menstruation and menstrual hygiene. Such misinformation can have ramifications on the health (e.g. fungal infections, repeated infections of RTI, cervical cancer, and vulnerability to infertility) and dignity of girls and women. Given the multiple challenges women and adolescent girls face, it is evident that promoting menstrual hygiene is not only a sanitation matter; it is also an important step towards safeguarding the dignity, bodily integrity, and overall life opportunities of women and girls.

Our plan

Incomplete knowledge is more dangerous than complete ignorance. We plan to shed a light on the misconceptions and stigma surrounding menstruation, in order to create awareness around menstrual hygiene and the ramifications of poor menstrual hygiene. In this way, we seek to start a conversation on how to prevent chronic diseases from occurring in Mongalla, IDPs centre and give menstrual hygiene management a strong chance of success!

Use of funds

Refugee To Save A Nation has initiated a campaign to create awareness on menstrual hygiene that will commence as of 5th August 2021. The funding will go towards; purchase millions of sanitary pads/napkins, soap and hygiene, maintenance, and hiring of skilled personnel to educate and train.