I have two girl's groups in my community as well as two youth groups that I'm working with, and many discussion topics and project ideas to tackle. One relatively easy, but possibly life changing project that I'd like to do with young women is the Pad Project.
The Pad Project is a sustainable and really effective way to keep girls and women active in school, their communities, reduces shame and stigma around menstruation, provides opportunity to educate about the female reproductive system, by teaching women how to make reusable, sustainable, pads.
This might not seem like a big deal, but commercial products are often too costly for women and girls in Malawi to buy, there is a lot of shame and privacy surrounding the topic of menstruation, and the inability to deal with menstruation in a reliable way leads many girls to miss large amounts of school or drop out entirely. Having a simple, reusable pad can make all the difference.
If I can provide the resources, I can teach girls how to make their own pads, give them patterns, and they can use resources around them to make more pads and teach others. All of these materials can be found locally-- but on a peace corps budget I can't afford the volume of supplies that I need to support my projects.
The process is really simple. I have directions, patterns, and a sample pad that I've made. Here are the resources needed for the girls:
Needles
Thread
Scissors
Metal snaps (to button the pads onto underwater.)
Paper, (so I can make more patterns to give out.)
Absorbent fabric
If you are interested in supporting this project please send any of the above resources, especially the metal snaps and sewing materials.
I will in turn send you photos of the girls that you've helped and possibly some fan mail from Malawi!
Thanks for supporting women, girls, education, my time here in Malawi, and international development!
My address:
Chilumba Rural Hospital
PO box 131
Attn: Ame Burke Peace Corps
Chilumba, Karonga
Malawi
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