Reusable Menstrual Pads for Mwenelondo Girls

Brief summary of the project: In Mwenelondo, a village in Malawi, girls are absent from school for ~5 days every month when they have their periods. There’s no private place to change and commercial disposable pads are too expensive. These factors in combination with social shame lead to girls missing school and sometimes dropping out.

 

We want to immediately use funds raised to: build a small changing room near the girls’ bathroom outside, train the Mwenelondo mothers group to make reusable pads out of cloth, and discuss sexual/reproductive health and infections. I’m excited about this project because it’s attainable, straightforward, and it’s what teachers and girls in Mwenelondo want. The community will also contribute 20% of the human resources needed for this project.

 

Materials for pads and changing rooms are relatively inexpensive (see budget section) so donations of any amount go very far!

FOR MALAWIAN DONORS, please donate using PAYPAL or SWIFT here: https://ulemudavidghambi11.wixsite.com/hycf/donate 

If you prefer Venmo/CashApp, both tags are BrindaRamesh. 

We also hope to expand this project into neighboring villages. Every contribution helps and we ask that you consider sharing this project with those you know. THANK YOU!!!!

 

More:

Hello! New friends, I’m Brinda and I am currently volunteering with HYCF in Karonga, Malawi, along the northern shores of Lake Malawi. HYCF stands for Helping You Community Forum, and is a new organization led by David Ghambi, a social worker from the Karonga district. David and I discussed a number of potential projects and I wanted to do something health related as I recently completed graduate school in public health. We are collaborating with local primary school and mother's group - we will update you on progress as we go!

 

Goals:

 

Background

This fundraiser is for primary school girls and women in Mwenelondo, a district that has 9 villages and a total population of about 90,000 people. In 2020, HYCF interviewed women to understand how periods affect girls and found issues of cost, sanitation, shame, and early marriage. The School Committee Chair shared that girls tear pieces of cloth to tie around their waists which leads to teasing from boys. Mercy, who’s 1st in the class in the 8th grade, shared that they don’t have privacy to change. Other factors include the taboo nature of having a period and fear of leakages. Staying home when menstruating is common, which leads to a lot of days missed. As the days missed accumulate over the school year or years, girls fall behind in classes. It also contributes to higher drop-out rates; the rates for girls are 7x higher than for boys in Malawi.

 

Project Activities

When we shared this project at the school, the principal and teachers brought up the importance of having a changing room. They showed us the perfect spot for it, in-between the girls bathrooms. Using funds raised we will build a small brick and cement structure with a tin roof. We also aim to add a washing station so that infections can be prevented.

Part of the project will also involve a training for the Mother Group, which has 10 women that support the village when various needs arise. One of David’s goals is to teach sustainable and life improving means that communities can embrace to keep their pride and manage their future. We will hire Malawian women to come to Mwenelondo and teach the women to sew these pads. This would enable creation of pads in the future – eventually reusable pads need to be replaced. They can also start their own business ventures should they want to.

 

Finally, we hope to share some information about sexual and reproductive health by partnering with the local health center:

 

More information:

Families in Malawi find disposable pads too expensive, and they accumulate waste in the village. In 2016, the Malawi Government set its poverty line at $164,191 kwacha annually ($202.11 USD); in rural settings about 60% lived below this. Their extreme poverty line, also known as the food poverty line because of nutritional effects, was set at $101,864 kwacha annually ($125.39 USD); 24% of rural Malawians lived below this. In reference to the United Nation’s poverty line (less than $1.90 USD) in 2019, 69.2% of Malawians were in this group. We want to purchase cloth, thread, flannel, and other materials for the project.

 

If we meet or exceed our goal, we plan on completing the proposed project and buying more materials for the school's future use, or expanding to other villages. Should we fall short, we will scale down the project goals. Reusable pads and sexual/reproductive health education are ongoing and necessary every year. Thus, this fundraiser will be repeated by HYCF annually.

(Update/Added expense on 01/10/22) Administrative Costs (Mkw 81,238.97 / $100.00 USD)
-HYCF organization wages  
-Accounting 
-Supplies and transportation

Budget for 160 Reusable Pads (Mkw 284,500 / $USD 350.21)

 

Mother Group training (Mkw 513,000 / USD $631.48):

Changing room (Mkw 218,500 / USD $268.96):

 

Total – USD $1,350.65

Our Goal (Increased goal on 01/14/22) – USD $2,450

 

@VENMO and $CASHAPP - BrindaRamesh

 

THANK YOU!!!!

 

Project leaders’ details:

Brinda Ramesh – Bachelor of Arts in Health and Societies, Master of Public Health from the University of Pennsylvania, USA. Contact [E-Mail ausgeblendet]

David Ghambi – Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work and studies Leadership at the Next Generation Leaders Academy run by the National Democratic Institute, Malawi. Contact [E-Mail ausgeblendet]

 

HYCF Links

Website: https://ulemudavidghambi11.wixsite.com/hycf

Facebook: https://web.facebook.com/HelpingYouCommunityFORUM

Instagram: https://instagram.com/helpingyoucommunityforum

Twitter: https://twitter.com/helpingyouforum

LinkedIn: https://mw.linkedin.com/in/helping-you-community-forum

 

#HYCF #ReusableSanitaryPads #ReusableMenstrualPads #Malawi #PeriodPoverty #Mwenelondo #GirlsEducation #HelpingYouCommunityForum #HYCF2022 #QualityEducation