top of page
Challenging Period pic 1.jpeg

END Period Poverty

“Meeting the hygiene needs of all adolescent girls is a fundamental issue of human rights, dignity and public health.” Sanjay Wijesekera, former Chief of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene, UNICEF.

 

For many women and girls, in low-resourced countries, it is a simple fact that they don’t have the funds to buy the safe and hygienic sanitary products, that would allow them to manage their periods with dignity.

Challenging Period Pic 2.jpeg

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)

​

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.

​

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)

​

Phase 1 2021

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

​

  • 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:

​

  • 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 

Started November 2022

​

bottom of page