Pencils and Pads for Girls
Don protégé
Why Pencils?
Whenever I am in the countryside in Ethiopia, when my car breaks down, (which happens more than once!), or when we stop to buy corn on the wayside, kids crowd around and invariably ask if I have a pencil! I am always so struck, by how thrilled kids are, when they get a pencil! All along the countryside, I can see evidence of the determination of kids to go to school in Ethiopia. Kids waking up before dawn, and walking 2 hours or more to get to a school. Kids as young as 6 and as old as 16-18 years, all walk miles to school, every day. So now every time I travel in Ethiopia, I try to carry pencils that the kids here are SO thrilled to get!
Why Pads ?
I also learnt that in Ethiopia, there are about 18 million school age girls. Most of them drop out of school when they hit puberty, because they do not have access to sanitary pads. Most use unhygienic ways to protect themselves and are restricted to the house, missing school, eventually getting married and having children early. Instead, if a girl stays in school, she is less likely to get married early, or give birth before her body is even ready. This has a huge impact not only on her health, and the health of the children she bears, but the health of the nation. Realising this need, the Mariam Seba Sanitary Products Factory in Ethiopia is producing low cost, environmentally friendly, washable and reusable sanitary pads called dignity pads. A $100 will help 25 girls with protection that is good for a year! There is another great environmental reason for promoting reusable pads, and that is the fact that disposable sanitary napkins take 300-500 years to disintegrate !
Whenever I am in the countryside in Ethiopia, when my car breaks down, (which happens more than once!), or when we stop to buy corn on the wayside, kids crowd around and invariably ask if I have a pencil! I am always so struck, by how thrilled kids are, when they get a pencil! All along the countryside, I can see evidence of the determination of kids to go to school in Ethiopia. Kids waking up before dawn, and walking 2 hours or more to get to a school. Kids as young as 6 and as old as 16-18 years, all walk miles to school, every day. So now every time I travel in Ethiopia, I try to carry pencils that the kids here are SO thrilled to get!
Why Pads ?
I also learnt that in Ethiopia, there are about 18 million school age girls. Most of them drop out of school when they hit puberty, because they do not have access to sanitary pads. Most use unhygienic ways to protect themselves and are restricted to the house, missing school, eventually getting married and having children early. Instead, if a girl stays in school, she is less likely to get married early, or give birth before her body is even ready. This has a huge impact not only on her health, and the health of the children she bears, but the health of the nation. Realising this need, the Mariam Seba Sanitary Products Factory in Ethiopia is producing low cost, environmentally friendly, washable and reusable sanitary pads called dignity pads. A $100 will help 25 girls with protection that is good for a year! There is another great environmental reason for promoting reusable pads, and that is the fact that disposable sanitary napkins take 300-500 years to disintegrate !
Organisateur
Jyothi Gaddam
Organisateur
Portland, OR