K-MET Launches the Reusable Sanitary Towel Project

K-MET launched the reusable sanitary towel project in three schools in Nambale District in western Kenya on March 26th 2010. A selected number of girls from grades 4 to 8 were each given a box containing 6 pads.  In a symbolic ceremony, the girls were tied to each other in a circle with a ribbon which was then cut to set the girls “free” to learn without fear and embarrassment during menstruation.  Because pads are not always available, girls and women in poor communities are forced to use cotton wool, cloths (including socks), tissue paper, pages torn from school exercise books, and pieces of sponge torn from mattresses and even leaves to manage their menstrual flow. 

A recent study by Oxford University in rural Ghana has found that without access to sanitary products girls attend school irregularly, perform poorly, and then drop out . Girls who were given both access to sanitary products and education on menstruation and hygiene missed significantly less school after 6 months. K-MET will donate pads to 250 girls in the three schools.  During the launch the girls were taught, through demonstrations, how to use, wash and care for the pads. The excitement among the girls was captured by one teacher’s remarks: “Some of my students who haven’t started menstruating have told me they wish had so that they could use the pads”. 

Display of K-MET's produced Re-usable Sanitary Pads

Re-usable Sanitary Pads Launch and distribution in Nambale, Western Province of Kenya

A student deomnstrates how to place the re-usable sanitary pad on a pant.

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