Reusable sanitary pads for women
WOW! What a year it has been! I won’t even try to summarise it – that would be impossible. But absolutely nothing would have been possible without your support.
So thank you all so much for for understanding that Menstruation is not a girls’ or women’s issue — it’s a human rights issue.
This coming decade humanity will decide its future.
Let’s make this year the best one for menstruating school girls.
let’s make the impossible possible!
Let’s get started.
Happy new year.
Here I am together with Kim Kardashian’s prior stylist Stephanie Shepherd in Kampala. You probably thinking how, why?
Here it is:
A video on Instagram had gone viral when all Stephanie wanted for her 30 year old birthday was to raise 30k to provide 15,000 school girls with panties. You’re probably thinking panties? Everyone can afford that! The answer is no. To have panties in 2019 is a privilege.
Many school girls in Uganda don’t have panties, and if they do, it’s one of the few they own simply because their parents gotta choose between feeding their family or giving their daughters panties.
First Tine sent me the video, then another friend sent me it, then when I went back on Instagram 15 more had sent me the video. I thought, I need to contact her, cause even though it’s essential to have panties, it’s just as important to have pads. So I thought we definitely should collaborate.
But how on earth do you reach someone like Stephanie Shepherd? I ended up sending her a message on Instagram, but with 1.5 million followers, she didn’t see my message. Tine suggested that I made a post instead where I would ask my followers to tag Stephanie. 150 tagged her (you guys rock), and she messaged me back. I couldn’t believe it when I saw she wanted to meet with me in Uganda! And here we are now where She for She and Khana Panties has made a partnership where we for every pad bag we give out to schoolgirls, we also give two panties and soap to wash the panties with.
You should see how happy these schoolgirls are when they’re told that not only are they receiving reusable pads, but also panties!
There are so many things I take for granted, but my work constantly reminds me to be grateful everyday, even for the little things like panties.
She for She is so excited to have a great partnership with Khana panties! It is hard to imagine that there are girls that are missing not only pads, but panties as well! This is something we can all easily take for granted. For many of the girls that we have met, we have heard what they use instead of panties and its sad.
Panties and pads give dignity to girls. They are essential and not a luxury, and yet, there are girls that have to go without these two items because their families can not afford to buy them.
Khana panties together with She for She, are bringing back that dignity to many school girls. For each pack of pads that we have distributed, Khana panties has given a pair of nice beautiful, soft cotton panties, and a piece of soap to wash them. This is a perfect combination and gift to these girls. They now have a pad and a panty when they menstruate.
The girls are so grateful, and the excitement when we tell them that they are getting pads AND panties, is simply overwhelming. Thank you Khana panties!!
In the picture you can see Stephanie Shepherd, Stephanie acts as strategic Advisor for Khana and the CEO of She for She Mary Consolata Namagambe!
At St. Joseph’s Primary School, in Mateete Sembabule District, She for She got the opportunity to talk about Menstrual Health with 80 school girls. It was such an incredible realization for us that most of the girls had never understood what menstruation is, where it comes from, and what to do when they get their first period.
Like most of the girls we talked to, Brenda was more than terrified when she got her first period at age 9. She saw the blood on her panties for the first time, and thought she was sick or had hurt herself. The word ‘menstruation’ was not something she had heard before, and nobody had dared to ever teach her about it.
We love when we get to interact with girls like Brenda because we not only give them the pads that will support their education, but also teach them about their bodies and what to expect when menstruation happens.
After months of preparations and hard work, we’ve finally moved into our new office and held our first workshop to teach new employees how to make reusable pads.
We are incredibly excited about our new office – it is bright, spacious, comfortable and welcoming. We’re working to finish designing and decorating the office in the next couple of weeks – there are still some things left to do in order to transform this great place into a perfect one.
We are so excited about how far we have come, and that we at last have our very own SHE FOR SHE OFFICE in Kampala, Uganda! What a journey! We can’t wait to create incredible memories (and projects) in our new office space and continue to work hard to keep girls in school! She for she got your period covered!
Hey everyone,
I just had my debut on Ugandan national radio where we spoke about menstruation! I of course spoke about our work and how something as natural shouldn’t hold any girl back from school. The most important part was the conversations I had with the listeners calling in.
I started the radio show by saying the words vagina and menstruation now that we’re about to produce organic reusable pads that are more sensitive for our vaginas. One of the callers told me how great it was to hear me use these two words and how important it is that we call these for what they are and not give them nick names. I asked him which words he was referring to. “Well the words you just used about those things.” I asked him if he meant vagina and menstruation, which he responded yes to. I said it’s okay to say vagina and menstruation out loud. No shame in that! Half of the world has those two things! He hesitates and half way through the show he starts to say vagina, and menstruation, which we of course applauded.
Another caller told us that he will for the first time buy his wife a package of pads after our radio show.
He explained that he would never have done this in the past, but after our show he realized that there’s no shame in buying pads to his wife.
These conversations are so necessary and important and it is just as important to have them with men, as taboos and stigmas regarding menstruation won’t disappear if we only teach girls and women about it. We also need to include the ones they share their everyday with, so they too will have a better understanding of our bodies.
Thank you to Radio 100 FM and the Amazing @byg_pappi for having me!
