Underpants for Tanzania

This past summer, thanks to all the donors, I was able to send 10 boxes of underpants to Longido that were waiting for me when I arrived in July. I brought enough sanipads for 300 girls and was able to match each pad  with a pair of underpants. This coming summer I will try to raise enough money to serve 400 girls. The seamstresses are already busy, but there is always room for more. I hope you will consider contributing again to this campaign. The first distribution was covered by the press and television because keeping girls in school is such an important national issue. The girls were so grateful for their pads and underpants, and teachers told me it would cause a tremendous increase  in school attendance. Please help make 2019 another success. 

Each year, since 2005, my husband and I volunteer time in Longido,Tanzania, a Maasai village. Since 2006, our son, from the village of Longido, has joined us. He came to the US on an education visa when he was 9. Each year we have projects that we work on. This summer I have recruited 30+ women here to make 10 reusuable sanitary pads apiece. We hope to distribute them to the high school girls in Longido as now they miss as much as 20% of the school year because no feminine hygiene products are available. There are also no underpants available. I would use the money I raise to purchase underpants since they are what the pads attach to. We hope to give at least 2 pads to a girl along with at least one pair of underpants. The underpants must be cotton and full coverage and also of decent quality so they will last. Out of our own funds we also support 9 deaf students in school, 1 older student in Guide School, our son's mother in the village, his little brother and sister in school and in their daily needs, the women who make jewelry in the market, and also have provided life straws, soccer nets, books, soap, clothing, solar ovens, and many other things. We  provide hands-on help when we are there for about 6 weeks in the summer. This monetary help for buying underpants would go a long way to provide girls the opportunity to stay in school and live a life without shame and isolation. I know these girls and want to do all I can to help as many as I can. So much of what we take for granted in this country is so out of reach for much of the world.