Cloth Pad Story 4 - Huru Kits in Kenya

I stumbled upon this website today,  The Huru International.


What do they do?   They provide Huru Kits free to girls leaving in poverty in Kenya.     It was founded in 2008 and by 2nd May 2011, Huru had distributed 15,299 Huru Kits to girls.

The Huru Kit is packaged in a drawstring bag that doubles as a backpack, and includes:
        -Eight reusable sanitary napkins
        -Three pairs of underwear
        -Soap to wash the sanitary napkins
        -Waterproof bag to safely store used sanitary napkins
        -Educational insert featuring information on proper sanitary napkin usage, and HIV/AIDS prevention
        -Various other items [as suitable]

Through this they help:
        - Keep girls in school
        - Educate girls on HIV/AIDS prevention
        - Encourage local, sustainable job development
-- Read more on their facebook:

This is recent news about them distributing 374 Huru Kits in Nairobi to displaced Kenyan girls:
   http://www.huruinternational.org/girls-living-in-internally-displaced-persons-camp-receive-huru-kits/

An excerpt from the post with a very touching poem:

 “AM ON THE BALANCE BEAM – ME AS A GIRL” 

Am on the balance beam, which side do I fall? I wish to be a person of integrity but sometimes my integrity is compromised. I wish to be a person of respect but sometimes my respect is stolen by circumstances. Please save this girl, to be able to know the good side of the balance beam. Every month I have to submit to nature and experience my monthly periods, sometimes I wish one was given choice, I would never choose to be a girl, because when I menstruate I have to be absent from school, I have to use unhygienic materials and even fall on the hands of hungry monsters, who ask for sex in exchange of pads.

I really love my life, but circumstances can’t allow me to prove this. My mother says she has no budget for pads and says I should know how to organize myself since I am mature. Please help me with the kind of organization my mother talks of or you should help me organize myself as nature takes its course.

Before I quit the stage, I have a request to make, please help me to know the side of the balance beam I should be on. Life is so harsh, please come to my rescue, it’s very dark, please shed some light and save me from dishonest sympathizers ready to tear my life. Allow me to be in school throughout to achieve good marks.  Let’s all join hands and keep girls in school.

How can we help?  Donate a Kit..  or buy pads from http://amysragbag.com/, she donates 10% sales from her non-discounted items to Huru International.

The Huru kit is US25.  It can change a girl's life forever..

Here is another way of helping..   Donating pads to 150 ladies in Uganda by 1 June 2011, USD5 per pad,  organised by another organisation:

http://www.gladrags.com/c-54-donate-pads.aspx

Cloth Pad Story 3 - 70% can't afford sanitary napkins

Dear All,

I came across this article yesterday about a study in India revealed that "Only 12% of India's 355 million menstruating women use sanitary napkins.".

Excerpt from the Article:
"NEW DELHI: Only 12% of India's 355 million menstruating women use sanitary napkins (SNs).

Over 88% of women resort to shocking alternatives like unsanitised cloth, ashes and husk sand.

Incidents of Reproductive Tract Infection (RTI) is 70% more common among these women.

Inadequate menstrual protection makes adolescent girls (age group 12-18 years) miss 5 days of school in a month (50 days a year). Around 23% of these girls actually drop out of school after they started menstruating.

The biggest barrier to using a sanitary napkin is affordability. Around 70% of women in India say their family can't afford to buy them."

Details below:
http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-01-23/india/28363510_1_women-resort-napkins-menstruating

Due to the study , there are a few initiatives being taken:
1) Menstrual hygiene week  launched
"NEW DELHI: Chandrakanta carefully went through the literature and colourful pamphlets at a stall that gave out information on sanitary napkins. Curious teenagers shyly heard the counsellor at the stall sharing information on menstrual hygiene. Some others came forward to buy the small packets of sanitary napkins on offer at a special price of Rs 10 each.
.
.
Chandrakanta pointed out that it was a real challenge for them to convince women to stop using cloth and instead shift to sanitary napkins to prevent infections during mensturation. "
http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-03-07/delhi/28665034_1_menstrual-hygiene-sanitary-napkins-menstrual-cycle


I am concerned about this statement of "to convince women to stop using cloth"...  :(  I think it should be "to convince women to stop using dirty cloth".   They shouldn't be sending the wrong message of using cloth is not right!

2) Free sanitary napkins for poor students in Delhi govt schools

" In a novel initiative, Delhi government will soon make available sanitary napkins free of cost to girl students from poor families in all schools run by it to ensure that their attendance do not suffer due to hygiene-related issues. Officials said the initiative is being taken to address high levels of absenteeism by girls students from poor families."

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-03-07/delhi/28665217_1_girl-students-delhi-govt-students-from-poor-families

While it is good that there is awareness that the poor women in India need helps, but is Disposable Sanitary Napkins the only ANSWER?   In poor places, clean water supply maybe an issue, using cloth pads may not be easy for the girls, is there a sustainable way to resolve this? 

Cloth Pad Story 2 - Ummi Cloth Pad

I had volunteered myself to test out Ummi Pads by Lynn.   I received the overnight pad more than a month ago..  The pad is very soft and well sewn.  The top is flannel with cute cartoon print as you can see from the above picture and the back is white flannel with pink check print.  It came with 2 sew-on snaps.   Lynn now has a snap press from Tiny Tapir, all her wing pads come with KAM snaps:

I thought it will be comfortable to wear..   but was a bit reserved as it is a bit thick compared to what I have..

I finally got a chance to try it out recently, to my surprise, it is actually very very comfortable despite of the thickness (this is personal view, it may not be thick to others).   No leaking, absorbed well and felt dry too...

My conclusion is this is a very good pad and happy that I owned one...

Lynn,  thanks for making a great pad...

Bye now,
Anic

Cloth Pad Story 1 - Sewing in the mountain of Nepal

For many ladies, buying disposal pads for our menses is second to nature.   However, what happen if a lady/family is so poor that they can't afford disposable pads?  I never thought about this until I started reading more about cloth pads.  I came across articles about ladies in a family sharing a piece of dirty rag for the few special days of the month.  They are so poor that they can't even afford to have their own piece of rag. The ladies suffered from hygienic related diseases and life threatening diseases like cervical cancer.  Girls could not go to school when they have their menses.  There were also cases that they were isolated in a hut outside their usual home so that they don't dirty their home.. :(   Very sad to read...

Fortunately, there are some organisations out there who are working actively to help these deprived ladies.

Today, I saw this post about a meaningful NGO programme in Nepal organised by Taiwan National Tsing Hua University International Volunteer Group, Vision Youth Action Taiwan, and with the help of EasyLohas, provided some villagers in Nepal cloth pad materials and taught them how to sew cloth pads.   It is very touching to see the photos.

Please see photos here:
http://tw.myblog.yahoo.com/volunteer-nepal/article?mid=1588&prev=-1&next=1581

Please be sure to check out the last few photos where a husband helped the wife, a young man & a father sewing for their beloved girlfriend and wife.  They are so sweet and loving...

For this activity, EasyLohas has made an easy to hand sew cloth pad pattern:

http://ppgin.pixnet.net/blog/post/31366712

Other organisations working on the same cause:

1) Not just a piece of cloth -   An organisation who collects used old cloths which are washed, sanitised and cut into 1 foot by 1 foot to make sanitary napkins for the poor.  

2) http://www.donatepads.org/ - A website providing information on organisations accepting pads/money donations.

I am thinking to help even if it is only in a small way...

Bye now,

Anic