Building on the success of the Welsh Government funded project to provide two facemasks for each child in three schools in Chongwe, Zambia, at the start of the coronavirus pandemic, Mothers of Africa funded the production of 300 sanitary packs for the girls at Evergreen School in Chongwe. Each pack contains five washable pads in an attractive cotton bag. They were produced by a local sewing group, managed by Mrs Noriah Buleya, using the sewing machines donated to the group, as part of the initial the Welsh Government coronavirus project grant. www.mothers-of-africa.org/news  (July 2020)

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Working with the support of Chongwe’s District Education Board Secretary, Mr Joseph Chanda, our project aims to provide sanitary packs to all schoolgirls of menstrual age in Chongwe District; some 18,000 packs of five towels over the next 2 years. That’s nearly 90,000 towels. We provide Mrs Buleya’s group with all the materials needed, reimburse travel expenses and provide lunch for the group. We also bought two manual sewing machines for the Shiyala School, so the girls can learn to sew their own towels. If this proves successful, we will look to extend this to other schools in Chongwe District.

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UPDATE 2022

Phases 1 and 2 completed, covering 15 schools, thanks to funding from Children and Future (see Our Major Supporters) and money raised by Céline Gally and Neil O’Dowd by cycling from Faro (Portugal) to Monaco.(see News)

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Phase 1 - 2021

 

8 Chongwe schools received 1,041 kits for washable sanitary pads as follows:

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• Africa vision of hope two schools secondary school and primary 205 

• OVC Chongwe primary 153

• Bunda Bunda 150 

• Chongwe primary 200 

• Kapete primary 105 

• Shiyala primary 108 

• New hope mphango secondary school 120 

Phase 2 - 2022
 

Schools that did not receive supplies in Phase I were prioritized to reduce the number of girls who were missing school when on their monthly periods as they cannot afford sanitary pads. Through the support of MOA, Chongwe DEBS is grateful to have received the 1000 packs on behalf of the Schools that were distributed to the 7 selected schools as follows:

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• Matipula primary School-180 packs

• Mukamambo Secondary School-175 packs

• Chainda Secondary School-201 packs

• Margret Mwachiyeya Secondary school-185 packs

• Kampekete combined Secondary school-65 packs

• Chilyabale primary School-65 packs

• Chongwe Secondary School-129 packs

 

Phase 3 - 2023

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After the change of Government in 2022 the new regime introduced free education up to secondary school. The result is that there has been an influx of children who initially were out of school due to the inability to pay school fees. The numbers of girls have thus increased and the MoA target for phase 3 of EPP was increased to 3,000 sanitary packs. This was successfully done with emphasis on schools that had not yet received packs. By the end, 3150 packs had been delivered.

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• Kapete Primary 325

• Chilimbana Primary 300

• Village of Hope Community 325

• Mpemba Primary 300

• Kabeleka Primary 300

• Silver Rest Secondary 825

• Faith Baptist Secondary 775

 

Phase 4 - 2024

 

MoA distributed 1,000 kits. We purchased an industrial sewing machine to cope with the volume and to ensure good quality products. Another important move is to prioritise pupils in examination classes so that they can write their exams with confidence. This phase has been successfully completed 

 

Village of Hope Community 155
Mphango Hope Girls’ Secondary 205
Mulola Primary 165
Shiyala Primary 85
Bombe Primary  45
Evergreen Primary 140
Mulenje Community Primary 105

 

Phase 5 will take place during 2025
 

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