Make the difference - ASHWA

Yarnz is making the difference for Ashwa Uganda.

Yarnz will donate all proceeds to Ashwa Uganda .
Ashwa is an independent NGO. We are very proud and happy to - with your help - contribute to their mission.

AHSWA supports the most vulnerable girls and women in Uganda, where menstrual hygiene and sex education are very much taboo. Because of poverty, sanitary towels are unavailable or unaffordable. Consequence is that girls regularly miss school and finally drop out of school and become isolated.
Whereas empowering a community often starts with empowering their women.
Teenage pregnancies are also a major issue.



How ASHWA helps the young girls in need of menstrual pads (Menstrual Hygiene Management)

Girls and women of all ages still have a very limited say over their lives and in particular over their sexuality, a situation that has made them face a number of problems among which:
- absenteeism where girls stay at home rather than attending school when menstruating;
- inadequate waste disposal facilities;
- the expense of commercial sanitary pads;
- lack of privacy for changing menstrual materials;
- leakage from poor-quality protection materials;
- the lack of resources for washing such as soap;
- limited education about the facts of menstruation;
- limited access to counseling and guidance;
- fear caused by cultural myths;
- embarrassment and low self-esteem;
- the unsupportive attitudes of some men.


As an NGO headquartered in Busia Uganda,  ASHWA is currently implementing menstrual hygiene activities:
- training young women and girls in social enterprise;
- delivering health education;
- women’s groups and young girls making reusable pads for their own use;
- women’s groups offering training to others;
- a school Program, where ASHWA trains girls to make pads and delivers health education.  ASHWA aims at supporting the girl child attend all days of school.


Girls, however, consistently perform poorly academically, compared to boys. Academic performance is closely correlated with school attendance, and absenteeism. Dropout rates are high for rural Ugandan girls. Studies have shown that these high rates are often linked to their reproductive biology. Most of them are disempowered by the simple biological process of menstruation. Affordable and hygienic sanitary protection is not available to girls in many areas hence resorting to the use of unhygienic rags and cloths which put them at the risk of infections.

In most communities in Uganda, menstruation is not a frequently discussed topic. Yet it is a big problem for teenage girls. These girls who get challenged during their monthly periods are faced with the prospect of using rags, newspapers, leaves or cotton wool to curb the flow of blood. Many of them choose not to go to school during their menstruation period, therefore resorting to drop out of school in fear of shame and ridicule.



Poverty, as the underlying cause of lack, has caused a situation where these girls cannot afford to buy the standard sanitary pads on the market. In addition, they endure attitudes that stigmatize menstruating women and girls as dirty, and many are too ashamed to leave home while they are bleeding. 

Therefore, supporting girls to manage their periods effectively means they will miss less school since these thousands of absences also lead them to getting fewer qualifications, limited access to jobs and spending less time building confidence and life skills. As a non-profit organization, ASHWA is only able to access small financial means. Therefore, they are dependent on the support from other local and foreign individuals, organizations and institutions.

By delivering education on puberty, menstruation and hygiene ASHWA is helping to encourage girls and women and erase fear and stigma. Furthermore, they offer them an affordable alternative to expensive sanitary pads, by teaching the participants on how to make reusable sanitary pads from locally available material themselves.




All proceeds will go to AHWA. They will spend the money on:

- Materials for making the reusable pads (cotton, fleece 
   and plastic material,buttons, thread,  sewing machines)
- Stationery (flip charts, markers, chalk)
- Facilitators Allowances (as a small refund of the time 
   and transport they invest for taking part in our event)


You can find info about Yarnz and our philosophy of Making the Fair Way at www.yarnz.eu .