Activity Report for pads4pals Project on the Distribution of Sanitary Pads to Girls and Women in Uganda
By Mutima Outreach Ministries In Partnership With Extended Hands
Prepared by Mutima Outreach Ministries, Kitala, Entebbe, Entebbe Highway p.o Box 1140, Entebbe-Uganda
1.0 Introduction
Girls and women face substantial embarrassment and fear of teasing related to menstruation in the community and schools. This together with menstrual pain and lack of effective materials for menstrual hygiene management causes widespread stigma and school absenteeism. All this owes to the apathy and extreme poverty in the rural and peri-urban communities. Extended Hands and team Mutima Outreach Ministries have collaborated in addressing the plight of young women and girls who cannot access sanitary materials, more so pads by providing/ distributing these sanitary towels and pads to them.
2.0 Project background
This project aimed at alleviating stigma among the adolescents and young women who face challenges relating to lack of sanitary materials or pads during their menstruation periods. For project team, “Extended Hands” and team Mutima Outreach Ministries collaborated in addressing the plight of young women and girls who cannot access sanitary materials, more so pads by providing/ distributing these sanitary towels and pads to them. To address their plight in their poverty-stricken communities, we as Mutima Outreach Ministries in conjunction with Extended Hands have further provided counselling and guidance services at the pads distribution centre in order to address the stigma and the carnage situations they face; and for women and girls, their dignity, self-worth and wellbeing are Mutima Outreach Ministries and Extended Hands’ priorities.
Project Activities
The following activities were undertaken in the execution of the project;
Transport and purchasing: Purchasing of the pads were done Kampala in Uganda as it was seen so reliable by our coordinator from Extended Hands. This was done by the administration of Mutima Outreach Ministries after receiving the confirmation of receiving money from Extended Hands UK. A total of 45 boxes were bought and each box contained 16 packets.
Adverts/Announcement: Mutima Outreach Ministries ran adverts for the projects through the platform of the Church every Sundays and Wednesday services, the local radios to announce regularly and reach out to the communities about the project. This included sensitisation and communication to the beneficiaries to know when and how they are to be reached.
Commencement of the project
On Friday 26th November 2021 a pilot project for the pads4pals project was carried out at Mutima Outreach Ministries. Mutima outreach ministries is a charity organisation located in Kitala Entebbe Uganda. There was provision of counselling and guidance services at the distribution centre that was conducted by Mutima Outreach Ministries staff/volunteers and health officers who were attracted to support the project.
The activity began by 11am. There were three speakers of the day.
The day chosen was considered because it would allow all the girls who have reached that phase in their lives to be available for the exercise. Immediately we received the good news of the project receiving the green light, we began to announce by word of mouth and public address system. This was done for a period of two weeks, this translated into the good turn up on the dee day.
The activity attracted a total of 200 school going girl’s whose ages ranged between 11-25 years. They came from all walks of life and from various areas within Entebbe. They were eager to hear and receive what had been prepared for them.
The first speaker demonstrated how properly put on a sanitary towel and the best hygienic practices during that time. She also taught the girls how to dispose of the used sanitary towels to protect themselves from diseases and also protect the environment by disposing off the sanitary towels where they should.
The second speaker touched on personal hygiene focusing on natural God given herbs to keep the body odour at bay during menstrual period.
Our third speaker took girls through confidence class, on how to build, maintain and use confidence to soar above any challenge to be exactly who they were created to be no matter their backgrounds and experiences. They were taught how to build confidence with humility and patience keeping pride and envy far away. The girls thoroughly enjoyed the educative sessions and had a number of questions to ask. To confirm that the educative sessions were successful they were given chance to recap and they did well.
There was distribution of sanitary pads to each beneficiary and they received 04 of packs of sanitary pads for free which will last two months assuming on average a girl uses two packets per month. The beneficiaries were also taught how to use the pads normally and keeping themselves clean. This was aimed at promoting sustainable knowledge in using the pads.
Conclusion
Extended hands with its desire to empower the girl child during her menstrual period fits right in with Mutima’s vision of enriching the lives of the girl child who are the future of tomorrow. It was a great honour to be chosen to take part in the pads4pals project. The pads4pals project has given relief to the parents of the girls because good sanitary towels do not come cheap. We would therefore like to advocate for the continuity of the project because there’s a lot of need.
