Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Why Sanitary Pads Matter


We all know that when girls stay in school, everyone benefits: marriage and pregnancy are delayed until adulthood, eventual wages increase by 25 percent, and more than 90 percent of those eventual wages are reinvested back into families. But are you aware of the transformative power of the sanitary pad?

Each year, Sudanese girls will stay home from school due to shame about their menstrual cycles. Many girls never return to class. NESEI girls are making “Comfort Kits” to improve student truancy and promote girls’ education. Everyone is benefiting.

The Comfort Kits include six washable pads, three pairs of underwear, soap, Vaseline, a comb, and a note of encouragement from one of our girls.

Each Kit costs $25 to produce. How many Kits can you underwrite? 1, 5, 50, 500? Think big. A $500 donation produces 20 Kits and puts 4 girls through school. That’s an impact!

2 comments:

  1. I'm missing something. How can $500 put 4 girls through school and produce kits too? I thought it cost $500 per year for a scholarship. Advise. Suzanne

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  2. Hi Suz,
    George did the calculations for us, so I don't have all the details. But I can tell you that $500 invested in the comfort kits social business will generate enough profits to send 4 students to school - that's 3 day-school scholarships + 1 boarding-school scholarship.

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