After witnessing that teenage girls are staying away from school because of lack of sanitary pads, Intouch Community Development and Project Managers organisation thought it would be best to focus on assisting the girl child.
The organisation’s MD, Kganya Ramoshaba-Bbenkele, said this came after she and her partners had visited a school in Limpopo and during a training there were more boys in attendance than girls.
Ramoshaba-Bbenkele saw this as a social responsibility to ensure that no schoolgirl should have to worry about sanitary pads through an initiative called InTouch Dignity Drive 2025, which aims to nominate schools in need and deliver pads.
“We started to realise this, we asked principals around schools in the area and they would explain that there was no access to sanitary pads, therefore girls were struggling to come to school. There was a lot of absenteeism and then that's when we thought we should close this gap.
“Disposable sanitary pads are great, but not great if you are not moneyed, you know, you don't have the financial resources to buy,” said Ramoshaba-Bbenkele.
She said some children were using newspapers during their periods.
“Our core craft is to uplift and implement skills into underprivileged, disadvantaged, rural areas. I always get comfort when I hear a girl say to me, ‘thank you that I won’t be using newspapers and toilet paper any longer’.
“I met a young woman who manufactures pads with her team. We have decided to take some of the money we were getting from government funding for skills development and pump it into purchasing these pads,” she said.
“A lot of people are still struggling with access to basic needs. We see a lot of things, like people still don't have access to employment, proper infrastructure, water and electricity.”
InTouch is looking for sponsorships and donations to ease the pain of worrying about pads and focusing on their education, to ensure that the National Senior Certificate pass rate of 85,01% that was scored last year be maintained.
“As InTouch, we understand that we are in a dire economic state as a country and most people find it harder to afford essential toiletries and things like sanitary pads for menstrual hygiene top the list. We want to see the dignity of black children restored; they should walk with confidence and only worry about hitting high marks in class without other extra challenges.
“So far, no sponsor has reached out to us, but with us creating awareness through interviews, we hope it will land in the right ear. We also have people sending us lists of schools in need and it is overwhelming.
Ramoshaba-Bbenkele said InTouch has already done the work in some parts of Limpopo, particularly in Mankweng.
“We have other projects where we give spinach and cabbage seeds to the community, and we also teach them agriculturally how to plant them from the ground until it is on the table to eat. We did that as well in Mankweng last year and they have even created their own business.”
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