Ugandan Rotary Organization

Girls miss 1 week of school every month as they do not have menstrual supplies.

We have partners with a Rotary Organization in Uganda, through our Girls Matter connections at Squamish and West Van Rotary, as they have built a manufacturing plant in Uganda to make re-usable / washable pads.

For just $20 CAD, we can provide enough pads to each girl to get her through High School.  We are currently raising funds to support 200 girls in Buyaya, so they can all attend school on a regular basis.

DONATE

Your donation will support a girl in high school  by supplying her with menstrual pads so she no longer misses 1 week of school every month.

By keeping girls in school,  we are breaking the poverty cycle, one girl, one family, one village at a time.

Minimum Donation: $20.00 CAD

Jali Sisters

Introduction

JALI Sisters’ organization exists to support high school education for girls, train vulnerable women in hand skills so that they can start income generation activities that can help them earn a decent living, be able to feed and educate their children and reduce poverty levels in their communities. JALI Sisters also provides simple meals to the old and child headed families through a monthly feeding program.

Menstrual hygiene

Sanitary towels are a necessity for every woman in the productive age. These are pads/napkins used by women during their menstrual period. Many sanitary towel production plants produce quality, gentle, super absorbent and hygienic products approved by Kenya Bureau of Standards. However, these products are good but not affordable by many low class women and girls from poor communities due to the high cost. This has led to many women suffering shame and many girls missing school for at least four to five days a month leading to poor grades.

Survey

Statistics have shown that 65% of females in Kenya are unable to afford sanitary towels (Buckner International report on period poverty-Kenya, 2022). More than one million girls miss an average of four school days per month because of their menstrual cycle and no access to feminine products forcing many girls to use dirty rags or leaves during their periods. This in turn has caused infections and other related medical problems. There are also more jarring statistics signaling that menstruation is tied to more fundamental risks and issue of gender inequity, with studies showing 2 out of 3 of pad users in rural Kenya receiving them from sexual partners and 1 in 4 girls do not associate menstruation with pregnancy.

Production

We make the re-usable sanitary towels using cotton cloth, high quality absorbent cloth, flexible nylon cloth to avoid leakages, Velcro  or button  to help stick to the pants so that it sticks in one position or to avoid movement to different positions. These materials are easily washable with water, local soap or detergent and dried on the sun (natural sterilization). This makes the product easy to use and convenient for every woman or girl.

Jali Sisters came up with the idea of producing affordable reusable sanitary towels that can be used by girls especially those in day schools so that they can comfortably stay in school and continue with their studies. The sanitary towels pilot project started in the year 2021 by producing 50 sanitary towels per month, this was done by volunteers who used their free time to give back to the community by sewing the sanitary towels using locally available materials that were purchased by Jali Sisters through funds donated by local church women of different faiths. The sanitary towels were distributed randomly to 45 village girls to test their quality and the demand has since been rising. In 2022, 1,066 grade seven and eight girls from five schools in Mathare and Korogocho slums received 3 sanitary towels each to test the quality and the girls have been asking or more.

It’s for this reason that Jali Sisters looks forward to producing and distributing sanitary towels to 3000 needy girls by the end of 2023. The cost of producing one re-usable sanitary towel is Ksh. 0.8. Every girl needs 12 sanitary towels per year distributed annually at a total cost of $9.6 per year as opposed to $24 used by every girl annually on disposable sanitary towels.

The $0.8 is total cost of production and materials for one sanitary towel. The women making the sanitary towels are paid on piece work basis. To reach 3000 girls from 12 selected schools, we need: 0.8 total cost per piece x 12 pieces per girl per year = $9.6 per girl per year x 3000 girls= 2,800,000 ($28,800)

Cost

By giving your $9.6 once yearly;

• You are able to help that ONE needy girl not to miss school for a whole year and be able to achieve high grades.
• Your gift will also help reduce teenage pregnancies and infection of sexually transmitted diseases among girls and women who depend on sexual partners to get the product
• Your gift will indirectly help a vulnerable woman with tailoring skills to earn a decent living from the piece work she does and use the income to feed and educate her children in Primary school.

Care

Girls carry the sanitary towels to school in a plastic bag and also carry an extra clean plastic bag to keep the already used sanitary towels. The already used towel is rolled and put in the plastic bag and tied tightly to avoid leakages, smell and discomfort. The plastic bag also helps to keep the towels hygienically safe. One packet of plastic bag contains 100 pieces of 9×9 inch nylon/plastic bags at a cost of $1. This is enough to take the girl for two years.

Challenges

• Lack of financial support to produce more re-usable sanitary towels
• High demand from both women and girls from local communities
• Lack of training on menstruation, womanhood and general body health leading to early marriages and teenage pregnancies
• Some boarding schools do not allow reusable sanitary towels so we are forced to purchase the disposable towels for the girls

Future plans

• Donate/distribute reusable sanitary towels to schools in Kenya and other African Countries facing the same challenges
• Construct a reusable sanitary production and tailoring centre
• Train more vulnerable women in tailoring skills to help in production
• Form women groups in every County and train them on the production skill so that they can make the reusable sanitary towels and distribute among themselves
• Source for more funds from friends, Churches, Non-profit organizations, Companies to increase production
• Form and support Girls and Boys health clubs in schools

NOTE: Sample videos on production are below.

Donate now to our PayPal Account, www.jalisisters.org

Report prepared by:
Linet Aguma
Jali Sisters
Date: 01/15/2022

DONATE

Your donation will support a girl in high school  by supplying her with menstrual pads so she no longer misses 1 week of school every month.

By keeping girls in school,  we are breaking the poverty cycle, one girl, one family, one village at a time.

Minimum Donation: $20.00 CAD