In search for meaningful employment and purposeful living, Bernadette Ojao met her calling; tackling period poverty.
“After moving from office to office, building to building and settling for jobs that didn’t give me satisfaction, I decided it was time I did something that I loved and would be beneficial to others.”
Luckily Bernadette didn’t have to look far. A sewing machine she had been gifted by a friend, sat at one of the corners of her house. Due to a lack of sewing skills, Bernadette had not been able to put it to use. Faced with her predicament and her husband’s constant encouragement to make use of it, Bernadette decided to learn sewing with the help of watching YouTube tutorials.
It was during one of these lessons that she got her AHA moment.
“The issue of period poverty kept ringing in my mind as I thought of myself and many other women out there who are unable to afford sanitary wear. “
On average one needs shs3500 ($1) to purchase a packet of sanitary pads in Uganda, which is expensive. This has led to among other things, a high rate of school dropouts among school going girls. According to the Ministry of Education, as of 2019, nearly one in every four Ugandan girls between ages 12 to 18 would drop out of school once they began menstruating. For those who do attend school, girls’ absence rates triple from 7% to 28% during their periods. Dropping out of school decreases their likelihood of escaping the cycle of poverty and increases their chances of early marriage and motherhood.
Bernadette is now manning a fierce fight against period poverty through her social enterprise based in Kampala.
Launched in November 2019, Pads For Her makes reusable sanitary pads and trains girls to learn how to make their own reusable sanitary pads and educates them about Menstrual Hygiene Management.
“The materials we use are locally sourced, these include pure and comfortable cotton fabric, towelling, Macintosh and many others which we usually buy from our suppliers in Kenya and Uganda.”
“The product has been in the communities since we started in November 2019, we gave out some pads courtesy of my UK friend under her initiate (Peace Lily Holistic Healing) where she collected 1£ off all her clients to buy pads for the vulnerable girls and women through Pads For Her. “
The initiative has since made over 3000 pads and trained over 300 young people, with an upcoming launch of a production facility in Najjera where they will be mass producing the reusable pads to the general market.
“The report we have from the beneficiaries is enough to tell us that our product has been accepted and is in demand. This is why we are currently working on large productions before we can officially hit the market. Also, we have organizations that are buying from us and this is pushing us to work harder.”
However Bernadette says, limited funding is hindering their ability to expand and extend their services and programs to a wider reach coupled with the outbreak of the COVID19 pandemic and the myths and taboos associated with Menstruation which has contributed to a high rate of early childhood pregnancies and school dropout.
In 2020, about 70% of school going girls were reported to have gotten pregnant due to the closure of schools as a result of the COVID19 pandemic.”
To address this, Bernadette has called for government intervention.
“The Government should make it a must for every girl above the age of 9 years to have basic knowledge on how to make her own pad, ensure that girls are educated about Menstrual Health Management since most schools don’t dive deep into the subject. Also the government should make it a must to provide pads in schools and should set aside funds for educating Teachers how to manage Menstrual Health in schools.”
Pads For Her is currently running the ‘Girl Get Up’ project in partnership with Zabuli Ministries that will see a percentage of the proceeds diverted to buying sewing machines for girls living in the slums.
“I will also be training about 1000 girls and women in slums as well as refugee camps. The program is open to the public. This is meant to create virtual factories as well as empower women and job creation.”
“I am happy to say that what began as a dream has now become a full-time job and I am glad to be serving God in the field He called me to work from.”
Thank you Bernadette for service beyond self. You make the world a better place.