We have now delivered washable and reusable pads to 1380 girls. That’s a huge total of 6926 pads, with each girl receiving five pads each. It’s a wonderful achievement by our partners in Kenya who are working with local women and communities to make the pads, deliver them to the most needy girls and therefore enabling them to go to school. But there’s still loads more to do. The number of girls needing pads and the opportunities to empower local women and communities is huge. We know we can’t help everyone but we can help some and it makes an incredible difference to their lives.
We’re partnering with three community led projects in different areas of rural Kenya and are being led by them in terms of what they need and how best to run and manage these much needed pad making projects. They work with local women to make the pads and then identify the girls most in need to ensure their deliveries are targeted to make the biggest impact on girl’s lives and opportunities.
One of our partners, The Mate Foundation, have trained two local women, Irene and Florence, to make the pads and they’ve now been up-skilled with skills for life, that will help them to support their families. Another partner, Agatha Amani House, has trained a number of the women who came to the refuge for shelter from domestic and sexual violence, and they too now have sewing skills that can be used to generate an income. In Kakamega, and Busia we support two women’s groups that come together to pattern cut, sew pads and deliver them to girls, improving their skills as well as providing a community and friendship hub.
Even a small amount of support goes a long way so please help us if you can.