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Every year, two million girls in Malawi miss several days of school each month simply because they are having their period.
Menstrual products are too expensive for most families who live on less than £1 per day. Reusable sanitary pads are more affordable than disposable towels but awareness remains low because menstruation is such a taboo subject. As a result, girls are forced to stay at home during their menstrual cycle, leading to poor grades, low academic completion rates and a lifetime of financial struggle.
We want to change this by facing down the taboo, spreading awareness of ways to remain at school while menstruating and meeting the growing demand for reusable pads through our partners in Scotland and Malawi.
Each year, during our two weeks in Malawi, we meet with girls at school in Blantyre and Mangochi to talk about our experiences and distribute as many reusable pads as we can source. We know from talking to the girls that washing these pads discreetly remains a challenge and we're looking at ways to help with this.
A short video produced by some of our students explaining how to use reusable sanitary pads.
We recognise that the most sustainable option is to buy our pads from local suppliers which is why we bought 500 pads from Tina Pads in 2019.
Trinitas, founder of Tina Pads, explains how the pads are made.
However, such is the scale of demand, we couldn't do without all our supporters in Edinburgh - St Columba's by the Castle and the many students and parents at George Watson's College - who continue to put in long hours to make these precious gifts.
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