In 1948 the UN produced the Declaration of Human Rights, There are 30 articles, but we are most interested in no 25 and 26. Article 25 says that everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for health and well being, including food, clothing, housing and medical care. Article 26 states that everyone has the right to education. For us at Power Of Pads these two articles are inextricably linked.
Health isn’t just the absence of disease, for young women to thrive and develop, the environment that they live in must embrace all their needs. Access to full education is vital and the fact that many menstruating young women and girls in rural Kenya miss a week of school each month, due to their lack of period products, is heart breaking. The effect of this on their health well being will be long lasting. It often results in early marriage, multiple pregnancies and poverty. Yet it is so easy to prevent. We have found that supplying reusable sanitary pads to girls results in them taking their rightful place in school and achieving grades just as good as the boys.
Many mothers in Kenya are keen for their daughters to achieve their potential. In Kakamega we have sponsored a group of women to make these reusable pads. They have been seed funded with money to purchase sewing machines and fabric and the aim is for these women to have a small business and be able to sell the pads to the community. We aim to buy a proportion which will then be distributed to school girls, that have very limited funds, free of charge.
Together we can make a change for these young women so that they can contribute to the health and wellbeing of themselves and their communities.