The GoAllOut Organisation student chapter at the North-West University (NWU) has initiated a community service project called Pad the Way.

The goals of the Pad the Way project are to increase awareness of the importance of personal hygiene for women, combat period poverty, and to encourage government leaders to make it mandatory for all schools and communities to provide free sanitary products to girls.

According to Melokuhle Magagula, the chairperson of the GoAllOut Organisation student chapter, they collected 100 000 individual sanitary pads for the project.

“We will donate the sanitary pads to the community, as we want to promote female hygiene and take a stand against period poverty. In addition, Bidvest Steiner has donated sanitary pad dispensers that will be placed in malls and schools around Mahikeng and at the university for ease of access for girls during an emergency.”

Melokuhle says they launched a petition to encourage the government to legislate the issuing of free sanitary pads to girls in schools.

Prof Sonia Swanepoel, deputy vice-chancellor for community engagement and Mahikeng Campus operations, applauds the initiative by students.

“Period poverty is a global issue that affects menstruators who do not have access to safe, hygienic period products or who cannot manage their periods with dignity because of stigma, or lack of menstrual education, or proper hygiene facilities.”

She says for many girls in South Africa and across Africa getting their period means staying home from school, exposure to negative social stigma, and the risk of significant health issues – all because they do not have access to safe sanitary products.

“The good news is that across the continent and around the world there are great activists and advocates working to raise awareness of period poverty and how it affects women and girls in Africa. Projects such as this contribute to highlighting the plight of young women,” says Prof Swanepoel.

Various schools in and around Mahikeng are set to benefit from this project. These schools include the International School of South Africa, Letsatsing Science Secondary School, Batswana Commercial Secondary School, Sol Plaatjie Secondary School, Mahikeng Secondary School and Golfview Secondary School.

 

Deputy vice-chancellor for community engagement and Mahikeng Campus operations, Prof Sonia Swanepoel, the executive mayor of the Mahikeng local municipality, Cllr Tshepiso Mphehlo, Student Campus Council chairperson Ella Mogashoa, and the director for student life, Mr Jim Molautsi, join hands in donating sanitary towels to underprivileged girls in the Mahikeng community.