Restoring dignity of girls going through puberty
Public asked to support One Million Comforts campaign
IT WAS a conversation between a grandmother and her traumatised granddaughter that inspired a man from a village near Mbombela to start a sanitary towel awareness drive.
Three years later, the campaign had spread across all nine provinces, gained corporate sponsorship and distributed more than 70 000 sanitary towels in poverty-stricken communities.
Richard Mabaso, founder of the Caring for Girls programme, said he wanted to restore the dignity of girls going through puberty.
“The conversation between my mother and my niece made me realise that young girls were afraid of puberty. My poor niece didn’t have the information and didn’t even have a packet of sanitary pads,” he said.
Mabaso’s drive grabbed the attention of Independent Media, who are partners with Dis-Chem and the Dis-Chem Foundation in the One Million Comforts Campaign.
The campaign is looking to collect over a million sanitary towels between September 14 and mid-October.
Dis-Chem has installed branded drop-bins in all of its 88 stores countrywide for customers to donate sanitary towels during the campaign, with additional ones in Independent Media offices. Three major suppliers, Always, Lil-lets and Stayfree, have also committed to donating generously.
Yesterday, Caring for Girls distributed sanitary towels at the Silikamva High School in Hout Bay. The pads were collected by University of Cape Town students.
Simphiwe Ngwenya from UCT said: “We collected over a thousand pads during Women’s Month. We understand that sometimes pads are overlooked, most especially by adults in disadvantaged communities... they become a privilege.”
Each female pupil received three packs of sanitary towels.
Grade 10 pupil Christeline Knowles, 16, said she was happy to receive the free sanitary towels.
“Some pupils use cloth towels as a substitute. Those don’t stick in one place, they leak, can fall out at any time and they don’t give us the extra support,” she said.
Grade 11 pupils Indiphile Nqevu and Nonceba Toto, both 17 years old, said the packs would last at least three months.
Indiphile said: “Some of us are ashamed when we get our periods. We tend to always check our behind to see whether we have leaked. We also fear getting up from our seats at school in case there is a mess.”
Nonceba said: “We get paranoid and that distracts us from concentrating on our school work.”
Life orientation teacher Mumsie Mongwe said girls who are menstruating don’t feel comfortable when participating in physical activities. “The life orientation curriculum involves outdoor activities, but you find that girls during their menstrual cycle don’t want to. They complain of period pains, leakages and discomfort.”