In our developed western world it is hard to realise that in underdeveloped countries the bodily functions that accompany a woman’s reproductive cycle can be so disruptive to day to day living. The lack of equipment to aid women with their menstrual cycle led to many young girls not being able to attend school whilst it lasted. They therefore lost one week out of four generally from their education and, inevitably fell behind in their academic progress.
In 2018 The St Timothy Foundation decided to set up a project to create, what is commonly known as, Hygiene Kits. These provide washable towels, plus other essentials.
After a demonstration workshop in Pewsey, Wiltshire an army of volunteer sewers made 100 reusable kits for the girls. A video in the local language Zande was made to show recipients how to use and wash the items.
One difficulty that we had was in transporting the kits to Nzara. This was finally done when one of our trustees visited Uganda. The kits were delivered to the Trainee Teachers in Kampala that The Foundation is sponsoring and were then transported by them to Nzara and distributed to the girls.
The next planned stage in this project is to help some local women to set up a microfinance project to make and sell the kits locally.
