IRFF UK: Girls Go Back to School in Uganda
2024-08-14 · Source: tparents.org
Schoolgirls are returning to classes happier and are getting better grades, according to a senior teacher at Busambala School.
This is thanks to IRFF-UK’s ongoing period poverty support efforts in the Kampala district near Lake Victoria’s shoreline in Uganda.
Many girls experience period poverty as they lack access to menstrual hygiene products due to their cost.
‘In Uganda… period poverty, or the inability to afford menstrual hygiene products, causes nearly a quarter of girls between the ages of 12 – 18 to drop out of school once they begin menstruating. School absence rates for girls triple when they are on their periods.’
Global G.L.O.W., 2024
Senior Teacher at Busambala Primary and Secondary School
“Before you came to our school, girls were using rags, paper, and even leaves. Many girls could not even attend school during their periods.”
Senior Primary School Teacher, Busambala
Menstruation is sometimes misunderstood and considered taboo, not only in Uganda but in many countries. The stigma impacts their physical, mental, and emotional health.
The senior teacher explained in an interview with Sylvia (Senior teacher at Destiny Junior School) that girls who did turn up for classes often cried from pain or shame.
Destiny Junior School is a flagship project of IRFF-UK in the town of Kibiri, just south of the capital city of Kampala.
Jesca Kyaligamba carefully checking the hygiene pads
Jesca is IRFF-UK’s representative in Uganda (Headteacher at Destiny School). She understands the girls’ needs and is highly motivated to “spread the love” for students and pupils in Busabala and others beyond her own.
“Now the girls are clean, the girls are smart, and the girls are performing better in class than before we started working with Basabala Primary School.”
Senior Primary School Teacher, Busambala
IRFF-UK has been instrumental in bringing awareness of this and other challenges girls face through the ongoing Girls Health and Support Project, or ‘Girl-Child’, as the locals call it.
“Sincere and deepest thanks to you all as your help has lifted a heavy weight from us teachers… Now they can attend classes, even during their periods, because they feel safe with the sanitary pads and panty liners and other products that you are providing.”
Senior Primary School Teacher, Sylvia
Checking menstrual products with senior teacher Silvia (right)
Donate Today
Can We Do More?
IRFF-UK is currently supporting some 400 girls in three schools in Uganda. But we would love to help many more. With your help, we know we can.
It only costs £1 on average to supply one girl with disposable sanitary pads for one month.
So, a one-off donation of just £5 will help keep five girls in school for a full month.
A recurring monthly donation of £5 would keep those five girls in school for as long as you would like to support their education.
You could even set your own target for how many girls you would like to help out.
If you can, please act now by clicking on the ‘Donate Today’ button. Your act of kindness could change their lives. Please know that every pound of your gift will be used for the girls.
(The IRFF-UK team)
Read Our 2023 Impact Report
A Girl-Led Solution to Period Poverty: A Ql Our 2023 Impact Report is here! Year-Old Co-Founder of Girls for School I Read Now
Menstruation is a normal part of life. But globally, girls face Stay upto discrimination, stigma, and shame when they’re on thei r periods -
all of which keep them from accessing basic rights li ke education, date health services, and full and equal participation i n society . 18- Receive alerts year old GLOW Club alumni Kashish is changing the way her about the world’s community thinks about periods, one pad at a time. biggest By Global Girls Glow In Uganda, w here Kashish is from , period p overt y, or the in ability challenges.
Moy 21, 2024 t o a f ford m enstrual h y g iene produc t s, ca uses nearly a quarter of By clicking Sign Up, you agree to our Terms and girls between the ages of 12 - 18 drop out of school o nce they Privacy Policy. begin menstru ating. School absence rat es for girl s t ri ple w hen
f ~ in ~ t h ey are on t heir periods.
Not only that - st igma surro undi ng menst ruat ion keeps many ■ I ‘-9t<;>’I< Ugandan girls from participating in basic household or community m~ activities whi le on their periods. Often, there is no space for them
to ask basic questions about their bodies and how t hey function,
which prevents them from understanding how to best manage
their health.
As a high school GLOW C lub student, Kashish began to realize just
how much harm these issues were creating for women and g irls i n
her community. In 2018, at the age of 13, she had the opportunity
to attend the Global G.L.O.W. Global Summit in New York City: a Our 2023 Impact Report is here! convening of girl changemakers from around the world. It was
there that G irls for School Pads was born. Read Now
Body Image and Self Esteem: How Diet Culture
18-year-old Kashish is the co-founder of Girls For School Pads: a social enterprise in Uganda that sells /ow-cost reusable pads and I uses the proceeds to send girls to school.
Girls for School Pads - a social enterprise and community impact
project founded by Kashish and fel low GLOW Club member
Patience - provides low-cost reusable sanitary pads to girls
throughout Uganda while hosting free educational workshops and
community dialogues about menstruation. All proceeds from pad
sales go directly to funding girls’ education.
Since its founding, Girls for School Pads has reached
approximately 500 women and girls. 60 girls across three Our 2023 Impact Report is here! Ugandan cities are currently continuing their education through
the Girls for School Pads scholarship program. Read Now
We recently caught up with Kashish to learn more about the long-
term impact her project is having on the lives of Ugandan girls.
Read on to hear how her advocacy work is challenging period Give your mom a gift this stigma by improving access to sanitary pads and encouraging year she will really love!
open dialogue about menstruation.
This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.
What is menstruation like for girls in Uganda?
Me personally, I didn’t have enough education about
menstruation. When I got my period, I felt really uncomfortable. I “!_he Devastating
cried. I didn’t know what to do. Because even at home, no one
would speak about it. We would just live our lives like it wasn’t
there. I didn’t even know about pads! I This is the reality for many girls throughout Uganda. They don’t
even talk openly about it, even in their homes. While some of them
are on their period, they are not allowed to cook or go near their
parents, especially the male gender.
Most girls have issues maintaining their level of comfort with
school during their periods. If a girl lacks pads, it can affect her
education. For example, if she is supposed to go to school today
and she gets her period and she has no pads, she won’t go to Our 2023 Impact Report is school. Some girls have been bullied by boys. Boys will tell them, here! “You’re disgusting,” or “ You’re d i rty.” So to avoid all that, girls will Read Now take the week off school. Then some of their parents will say,
“Why are you wasting my money? You are just at home.” They tell
them to drop out of school, so they end up dropping out.
How did you develop your idea for Girls for School Pads?
In GLOW Club, we would speak about the challenges girls face. I
also gained skills, like leadership skills and counseling skills. Girls
would come and ask me about menstruation and how to be
comfortable with it, so I would guide and counsel them. My friend
Patience and I had the opportunity to go to the U.S. to attend the
Global G .L.O.W. Summit. We made a community action plan, and
that’s where we got the idea to start our project. I
Our 2023 Impact Report is here! Kashish leading a reusable pad-making workshop for local women Read Now in rural Uganda in 2018. Kashish conducted surveys and led community dialogues to launch her project, Girls for School Pads.
After we developed our idea, we returned to Uganda and carried
out community surveys to learn more about how lack of access to
pads affects women and girls. We first met w ith groups of women
and spoke to them about their problems and how they manage
their menstruation. They told us that for them, it’s very difficult to
balance thei r menstruation expenses and their household
expenses. They said that buying a pad is very costly to them, so
they resort to using cloth. They just get a piece of cloth and use it ,
whic h is not hygienic and can even be harmful to their health.
Since its founding, Girls for School Pads has used proceeds made by selling reusable sanitary pads to I pay the school fees of 60 girls across three Ugandan cities.
Then we met with girls from the community. We sat them down
and talked to them about periods. Most of them were very shy
about it and didn’t want to share about it. We even met a girl who
at first lied and said that she hadn’t started her period yet
because she was too shy to share. Eventually, she opened up and
said that at home, her dad doesn’t give her mom money , so they
use pieces of cloth. Our 2023 Impact Report is here!
Join the conversation to end period stigma by using hashtag Read Now #TalkAboutltPeriod and downloading our digital toolkit!
We informed both groups that using cloth fabric is not good and
can cause health issues. We pitched our idea, and they were really
thankful. They didn’t even know that reusable pads exist.
How does the Girls for School Pads Project work?
Girls for School Pads provides menstrual health guidance,
education, and materials to girls and the community at large.
O ver the past three years, we have been visiting communities and
schools teaching girls about reusable sanitary pads and their
menstrual health.
We make reusable sanitary pads out of
locally available cloth and cotton. I When visiting schools and communities
where store-bought pads are difficult
for families to afford, we provide
demonstrations on how to properly
wash and dry the pads so that all of
the bacteria can be killed.
We sell the pads for 10,000 Ugandan
shillings (approximately $2.50 USD),
and when washed properly they can Our 2023 Impact Report is Girls for School pads here! be used for up to one year. Store- sells /ow-cost reusable bought pads can only be used once, Read Now sanitary pads in low- and w ill typically cost a local family income communities. around 50,000 shillings per month. The When washed properly, profits from our project have paid for the pads can last for up my school fees, and have a lso helped to one year, preventing pay for the school fees of 60 girls the health issues that across Kampala , Fort Portal, and Gulu can arise when usina old
who would not have otherwise been cloth for period able to continue their education. management. We’ve also taught some women in our
community how to make the reusable sanitary pads themselve. As
a result, they make the pads and sell them with our logo on them .
The women are able to earn a living, and also, it helps spread
awareness. As people buy the pads, they learn about the
background of our project. And also, the women earn money to I help with their expenses at home and improve their standard of
What has been the impact of Girls for School Pads
on your community?
Our Girls For School Pads Project has made a positive impact on
the lives of girls. Girls can now openly speak about their periods.
They educate their neighbors and other girls at school. They ‘re
able to advise other people. Our 2023 Impact Report is here!
Kashish leads educational workshops for girls in her community, encouraging them to speak openly about menstruation.
Also some men have changed the way they have been thinking
about periods. Some fathers could not even look at their I daughters when they were on their periods. But as we went on
educating them, they saw no harm in being with your daughter
while she’s on her period. So it has really created a positive impact
on society where girls have been embraced during their periods
and have also embraced their periods.
What have you learned through this project, and
what are your long-term goals?
Through this project, I have learned that I can make a change and Our 2023 Impact Report is here! so can other girls. I was very shy, but through this project I have
developed myself, and now, I’m a role model to other girls. Read Now
Our goal for this project is for it to expand and keep on expanding,
not only in Uganda, but to reach different girls in other countries.
We also hope to one day develop a biodegradable sanitary pad
that will be even more environmentally sustainable.
We believe we can make a global change w ith our project because
we have started a chain. We help and teach people, and then they
teach other people. So I hope our chain goes on. I hope that girls
teach themselves, their friends, their relatives, and even their own
children one day so that girls can live in a free world and be
comfortable with their menstruation.
Global G.L.O. W. mentors girls around the world to become powerful advocates and confident leaders. Since inception, our I GLOW Clubs have ignited the power of over 91,000 girls to do 3 transformative things: increase their confidence, strengthen their voice, and build their power. In honor of Menstrual Hygiene Day, support bold period advocates like Kashish at globalgirlsglow.org/donate.
This transformation story has been made possible through our collaboration with Art o f Child, who coordinate GLOW Clubs for girls throughout Uganda. Special thanks to GLOW Club Coordinator Remmie Bishanga, and to Kashish for encouraging girls to Talk About It. Period. Our 2023 Impact Report is here!
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We mentor g irls to advocate for themselves and Let’s join forces to remove barriers holding girls
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Vivian IRFF UK Period Poverty Director in Ghana
“Thanks to IRFF UK, I never miss school. My family and I are hopeful for the future ahead.” Destiny Junior School Student
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