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Emley Education Centre crestEmley Education CentreRise and Shine · Msambweni

Washable Sanitary Wear for Girls

Schoolgirls in a classroom holding up finished washable sanitary shields

Many girls especially in a Moslem area miss many days each month away from School when menstruating. Some of this is Cultural but much of it is because Sanitary pads cost a lot of money. Disposable sanitary towels costs 900 Kenyan Shillings for 8 pads. This is £6 in our money. Obviously, this is at a cost of around £12 to £20 a month and impossible for poor people to buy.

A daily wage is between £1 to £2 a day for unskilled labour.

After attending a course run by 'Days for Girls' where washable sanitary wear was made and a bag of various items were put together as a kit. I decided to adapt this for our pupils.

I did not want to take out lots of kits as the project has to be sustainable and I wanted the girls to own the project. I did however take out , as a one off, lots of cut out items and I taught 6 groups of 10 pupils and one adult group how to make the shields and pads. The patterns can be found on the web site of 'Days for girls.'

Below are some photos of the project.

Piles of cut fabric pieces in different colours laid out along a wooden table

Cut out materiel

A volunteer shows schoolgirls how to cut a shield shape from waterproof fabric on a template

Cutting out waterproof layer

Schoolgirls around a long table laying out red and patterned fabric shield pieces

Girls assembling 3 layers and pockets

Clear plastic bags of cut fabric pieces on a table beside scissors and coloured pens

Cut out Plastic lining, cotton lining, and brushed cotton squares

Girls in a classroom sewing fabric pieces on treadle sewing machines

Girls using the sewing machines

An older woman at a sewing machine helps a group of girls sew in a library

Teacher Elizabeth helping the girls sew

Horbury and Ossett Rotary Club bought 3 sewing machines for the School

A volunteer and schoolgirls packing pants and fabric items into drawstring bags at a table

Filling the bags with 2 pairs of pants, a wash cloth, 2 sealed polythene bags, 2 shields and 3 brushed cotton liners

A girl in an orange T-shirt sewing checked fabric on a Singer sewing machine as a boy watches

2016 Rosemary ran 3 women's groups with the help of Dilys and a teacher Elizabeth

The idea is that women make these items for themselves and to sell. The limiting factor is that the women really need sewing machines that cost £80

Women at classroom tables sorting fabric pieces and sanitary pad parts with two volunteersWomen seated on a patterned floor mat holding up checked fabric pads during a group sessionWomen kneeling on a mat laying out paper patterns and cut fabric shield shapesA volunteer and a woman sorting piles of fabric at a classroom table as others sew behindA woman in a yellow headscarf sits at a school desk with red fabric pieces while others sewTwo women at a wooden school desk sewing fabric sanitary pads by hand
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