Sanitary Pads
Ghana
In the current ‘ecological aware’ climate we are very focused on re-usable items. In Africa they are desperate to find re-usable solutions because of limited finances and resources. In the Upper West Region of Ghana, the teenage girls often miss school during the week of their period because they are unable to buy any sanitary products. They haven’t the money and there are no pads available even if they had. Girls’ education is not seen as important, so they are encouraged just to stay at home. The girls have to use rags of old cloth and have very limited water resources to wash them in. It is estimated that 11.5 million women in Ghana lack hygiene/sanitation management facilities that adequately separate waste from human contact. Many girls drop out of school altogether when they start menstruating.
JWA was approached by Skegness Rotary Club, who wanted to supply sanitary products to a school. To supply one pack of pads to 1000 senior high school students in two deprived schools would cost £886. This would last each girl one month (one period max). Instead, we proposed to teach the girls how to make re-usable pads. So, for the same amount of money we can provide a pack of reusable sanitary pads to around 2-300 senior high school, and teach them how to make these pads for themselves. At the same time, the girls are also given some sexual health education. This means that not only the teenage girls, but also all their female family members benefit. Skegness Rotary club is trying to raise the money for this project. If you are interested in supporting this we would be very grateful for your help! The more money we get the more girls we can help.
Ghana 2023
We have been running projects that teach teenage girls how to make re-usable sanitary pads and give them some sexual health education since 2021. In April this year we did our largest project to date, training over 433 girls in Wa, a major town in the Upper West region of Ghana which is very poor. It is hard to overstate the importance of this project which enables the girls to stay in school instead of staying at home whenever they have periods. Missing school means that their numeracy and literacy skills will be poor. In that case, the only employment available to them is subsistence farming. With just a few more years of education they can learn enough to be able to get a job as a waitress or make a small business for themselves, saving them from a life of abject poverty.