Women at Platfontein near Kimberley in the Northern Cape have described a project to make their own reusable sanitary pads as a game-changer.
Platfontein was among the targeted disadvantaged communities to be trained to make their own reusable sanitary towels.
‘Difficult choices’
The once-a-month menstruation cycle is stressful for many. Some women have to choose between sanitary pads and food and many poor teenagers miss school as a result.
47-year-old Pinna Oran says women have to make difficult choices when they have their periods.
“We, as women, use it every month and it costs around R20. It depends on how many are in the packet and if you need two packets then it becomes too expensive. If you don’t have, you have to borrow from someone else.”
The Sanitary pad project will see women using recycled material to make their own reusable pads. There’s been a lot of interest in this poor community.
“It will help people a lot, especially us who are unemployed and children who go to school. They don’t have people to supply them, so this project will help a lot.”
Project Lily, who spearheads the project, says the women will learn the skills and are expected to share the skills.
“We train them to go and teach the people, mostly at other schools to do this project, because sanitary pads can be expensive, so how can they make the sanitary pad and use it again and again.”
The project will also be rolled out to other poor communities in the Northern Cape.
