menstrual pad presentation

Yesterday I went to a school in Rwanda's Eastern District call Nyamirama Secondary School. WD4H has been fostering a relationship between this school and San Marcos High school in Santa Barbara. We are currently in the beginning phases where students at San Marcos and Nyamirama are writing letters to each other. 

Yesterday while the WD4H team was at the school we decided that it would be a good idea to introduce the reusable menstrual pads that our co-ops are about to start producing. I created the powerpoint and gave the presentation (with a lot of translating from our business coordinator Judy). I am going to post the slides from the presentation to give you an idea of the issues these girls are facing and how we decided to address these issues with an auditorium of about 300 girls!

The girls loved the concept of these pads so much they were cheering throughout the presentation and by the end they had many questions about them. The questions included,

Q: Can the reusable pads be washed with the soap we use with normal clothes? We have been told that it is not good to use soap on private body parts.

          A: You don't need to worry about the affects of soap when washing these, after you rinse the soap out well, and put it in the sun to dry, all of the residual soap will be gone.

Q: Are these pads already on the market? Where can we find them? At what price?

          A: Unfortunately these pads are not yet on the market. But they will be soon.

Q: When a person has an overflow problem can it cause staining on the clothes?

          A: The pads can hold many extra absorbent tri-fold pads which prevent overflow and leaking. Also the pads have a plastic moisture barrier in the middle to prevent from liquid going through the pad, creating leaking and staining. 

Q: How many come in the package?

          A: We did not mention a specific number but said, The best part of these pads is that you can get as many pieces as you need which is different from disposable pads which you are obliged to buy the entire package of.

Q: Can you share it with your friends? 

          A: You can absolutely not share these pads. Very serious diseases are transmitted through blood and this is a dangerous way to potentially transmit diseases. You can not share underwear with each other, so similarly sharing these pads with each other is not okay either.

Q: Are they equal in size even though people are not equal in size?

          A: These pads are not being produced yet but we plan to make them in different sizes. Luckily we are making the pads so we can make them the size that works best for the women we are selling to.

Q: Could you give a few girls samples of the pads so they can they can try them and testify their quality? 

          A: Yes, that sounds like a good idea, we will talk about it further.

Q: Can you teach us how to make them?

          A: Potentially! 

Based on the last two questions, the WD4H team decided it would be good to have 3 girls that would serve as ambassadors at the school who could try the pads, discuss their goodness with the other girls, and be able to direct questions they have to WD4H. The girls picked the ambassadors in a type of election process. Different girls raised their hands and elected someone they thought would fill the role well. Then the nominated girls walked to the front. Once there were 5 girls at the front of the auditorium, they all turned their back to the crowd. The crowd then voted on who they thought would be best to be their elected ambassadors.

It was so cool to see how excited these girls were to be apart of this project! You could feel the energy in the room, they recognized how transformative this opportunity could be. They understood what a big step, potentially having access to menstrual care was. They all wanted to be involved! At the end of the presentation I asked the girls to raise their hand if they had ever had to miss school due to their periods. Many of them were nervous to raise their hand and had to be encouraged by us or their friends. I think this attests to the issue. In the end about 45% of the girls raised their hands. Showing that this is in fact an issue within this school, this community, and this society at large.