Globally, approximately 500 million girls lack proper information regarding menstrual health and hygiene (World Bank 2018). A high percentage of these girls are based in Africa and suffer from inadequate knowledge of the menstrual cycle as well as lack of proper menstrual products.
She for She’s mission on educating African girls on their menstrual cycle and reusable sanitary products led to the development of the following video to clearly explain the menstruation cycle and menstrual hygiene management to girls that lack the same.
Content available online particularly highlights this information using Caucasian models. She for She has chosen an alternative route to reach it’s audience by using brown girls in its video as a method to present this vital information to African girls who largely are absent in new media available online. As more African girls see themselves online, may they be encouraged to learn and create even more than they dreamed possible.
She for She x THE DANISH FAMILY PLANNING ASSOCIATION
It’s our pleasure to announce that our documentary with THE DANISH FAMILY PLANNING ASSOCIATION is here on our work with She for She! They’ve filmed me in Denmark and in Uganda.
The purpose of this documentary is to inspire and motivate Danish youth to take action regarding UN’s Sustainable Development Goal number 17, and to get Danish youth to be committed to sustainable development.
Sex & Samfund believes that it’s important to expose youth to actual ways one can contribute to sustainable development.
The documentary is in Danish.
She for She visiting Mateete College
Prior to our visit, school girls at Mateete College were unable to go to schools because they didn’t have pads. In result, girls were missing up to 5 days of school every single month. Thanks to generous supporters like you, *every* girl at Mateete College now have the pads she needs to manage her period and be present in the classroom! Thank you for investing in female education, one She for She pad at a time.
GANNI X She for She
I am so happy and proud to officially let you know that She for She has partnered with the clothing brand called Ganni, a Danish fashion brand.
In November 2019, I was excitedly waiting at She for She’s office in Kampala, waiting for our delivery from Ganni! I could simply not believe that such a big fashion brand would support us with keeping girls in school while they have their period.
Ganni has supplemented She for She with organic cotton for free in the quantities we use, which has meant that She for She became the first company in East Africa to produce organic pads!
We are so proud and pleased to be officially be in Ganni’s “Responsibility Report”
You can read it here: https://readymag.com/u1526266547/1815710/3/
A gigantic thank you to One LifeFoundations for this opportunity! We can’t wait to continue our mission by keep investing in our girls so they can go to school while having their periods. It takes a village and we got a powerful one!
Happy Women’s day
In the last week, out of the 6 months I spent in Uganda, we distributed reusable pads to over 350 girls. That is 1750 reusable organic pads! Our biggest give away to date!
Next week my documentary with The Danish Family Planning Association will be released.
Here you will meet a young woman called Gladys, who has been using She for She pads for 1 year – these were her first pads.
Today I think of all the girls I have given pads to. Their very first pads.
It gives me tears in my eyes that they no longer have to use pages from old books, newspapers, old t-shirts, foam mattresses or small corncobs as a hygiene product when they have their period.
Here’s Gladys story:
We had driven a long way to meet Gladys. We had driven about 6 hours from the capital city Kampala.
Last I saw Gladys was back in 2018 at Kingdom Secondary School in Mbarara in Southern Uganda, where she got her very first package of She for She pads.
When we arrive at her home, she is standing with her mother, sister and little brother waiting for us.
She smiles as she sees me and says “She for She” and I smile even more because, it’s me from She for She.
Gladys takes a bench from their hut and place it outside so we can sit down.
I talk to her mother and ask her which difference she has noticed with her daughter after she got her She for She pads.
She gets tears in her eyes and tells me that she can now send her daughter to school while she is on her Period and that her daughter is happy again.
Gladys shows us her She for She pads and tells us that she looks after them very well and that she has had them for 1 year now. It’s her most expensive property, she says, smiling.
I have been working with this for almost 3 years and every time it touches me deeply that something I take for granted in my everyday life can be crucial to whether a girl gets an education or not! So on this day, I think of all the women who have paved the way for me, and I cannot keep calm over because now I have the opportunity to pave the way for other girls!
She for She’s menstrual health educational material!
Finally it’s here! She for She’s own menstrual health educational material!
When we started out we would draw our own drawings to teach girls and boys about menstrual healthy, not the best or prettiest drawings but they did the work.
But look at what we have today! Look at how gorgeous they look!
Menstrual health education: a key to nurturing confident girls!
Drawn by Oswald, a student at kyambogo university
