Phrases

One of us saw this wonderful phrase the other day, and we all fell in love with it!

Through experience we learn to grow,
in growing we learn to give,
in giving we learn to love and
in loving we learn the real essence of life.

We'd love to come up with our own-- leave a comment if you have any good ideas!

A Bit More Background

Education, especially of the girl-child and woman, is widely regarded as the best investment that most developing countries can make. Not only does it open up choices and opportunities, education is associated with better health outcomes individually and as a family, resulting in better nutrition and fewer deaths among mothers and children. Preparing young girls for success in school is paramount to achieving health and success in an increasingly global community. Indeed, girls without an education will be greatly disadvantaged in the future and will struggle with maximizing their potential as adults.


Once young girls in school begin their menstruation, many drop out due to lack of access to sanitary pads and inadequate school sanitation and hygiene facilities to meet their needs. The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) (2005) estimates that one in 10 school-age African girls do not attend school during their menstruation or drop out after menstruation begins because of the lack of clean and private sanitation facilities in schools. Few schools have any emergency sanitary supplies for girls. Communal toilet facilities are not suitable for changing sanitary pads given the lack of water and sanitary material disposal systems. One study in Uganda found that one in three girls missed all or part of a school day during their menstrual cycle.

The Problem:

1) Many girls drop out of school due to absenteeism during their menstrual cycle.

2) High rates of urinary tract infections (UTIs) result from poor hygiene supplies and improper hygiene education.

3) Because of poverty, women lack an ability to continually care properly for themselves and their family during menstruation.

Women waiting in line at a clinic because of chronic UTIs.

The Forum of African Women Educationalists, Uganda (FAWE U) calculated that to cover their sanitary protection needs at market prices, girls must find ways of justifying a recurrent expenditure of at least 2,000 Ugandan shillings (just over US$1) every month. Such costs are prohibitive to a poor family where the household income is an average 20,000 shillings (about US $10) a month. As FAWE Uganda states, ‘Buying sanitary protection means a monthly spending equivalent of four radio batteries or enough paraffin to last a family one month. Where men most often control the household budget, how can girls succeed in getting sanitary materials on to the priority list? What is worse, where sanitary protection for one girl may cost around a tenth of a monthly family income, how can a household afford this where there are two or three girls?’

A recent study done by Linda Scott of Oxford's Said Business School demonstrates that menstruation is a significant barrier precluding Ghanaian girls from school, and that free menstrual supplies given to secondary school girls have been proven effective in overcoming that barrier. The study found that girls who were given pads reduced absenteeism from 21 percent to 9 percent. Scott stated:

"We think this problem is going to surface–and the effect of the intervention felt–throughout the developing world. What creates the underlying problem is, as I am sure you know, the fact that the community does not recognize the value of female education to begin with, second, that the topic is not talked about, and third, that there is an assumption that whatever method the mother or grandmother used should suffice (though neither of them probably went to school). Some in international aid have a reaction that might be summarized as “this is a trivial thing–why are we wasting our time talking about feminine napkins?” It is my hope that through this work, and any press attention to it, we can change the dismissive attitudes that some aid professionals have toward the problem.”



The Grow Learn Give Solution:

1) Provide hygiene supplies, reusable pads and patterns to continually supply women throughout their reproductive life.

2) Provide proper health education materials and lesson plans to teach others.

3) Provide the sewing machines and skills to sustain the supply.

To complement the kits, we have created educational booklets for the instruction of women and girls regarding their hygiene and the changes that occur during puberty.We intend to use the educational materials in concert with the hygiene kits, in order to empower the women and girls not only with tools, but also with knowledge. To see the materials, click on Hygiene or Menstruation Booklet (Pilot) on the right-hand side of this blog under "Pages."

Menstruation Booklet (Pilot)

Well, we've got our first version of the Menstruation Booklet (Pilot) posted to the right (under "Pages")! Also, we made a few changes to the hygiene booklet, so be sure to check those out too. We're really excited and look forward to having the materials piloted with the female hygiene kits later this month in Kenya!

Pilot Hygiene Booklet

We now have images of our first draft of the hygiene booklet, located on the "Hygiene Booklet (Pilot)" page on the right. We hope to have information about the Menstruation booklet up soon!

28 Days

Here is another fabulous video explaining the struggle of menstruation for many women worldwide, and a proposed solution. Grow Learn Give's approach and goals vary slightly, but the communication of the problem is very effective. Check it out:





We borrowed this great clip from our friends at She Innovates. Also I'd like to address the point in this video where a business solution is proposed, with the outcome of women getting jobs and providing income for their families. I'd like to point out that although in many cultures and religions it is not looked upon positively for the mother to work outside the home, we ought to bare in mind that in places where this issue is a considerable barrier for women and girls, they are also undoubtedly suffering from poverty. In that case, many women are already struggling to bring additional income to the family, and frequently fail to do so effectively. Empowering them to do so in a less time-consumptive, more effective fashion not only provides more income for the family, but allows the mother to better care for her family, spend better time with them, provide higher quality nutrition, and educate her children.

Study Shows Free Hygiene Supplies Aid in Overcoming Menstruation as a Barrier to School

A recent study done by Linda Scott of Oxford's Said Business School demonstrates that menstruation is a significant barrier precluding Ghanaian girls from school, and that free menstrual supplies given to secondary school girls have been proven effective in overcoming that barrier. The study found that girls who were given pads reduced absenteeism from 21 percent to 9 percent. Scott stated:

"We think this problem is going to surface–and the effect of the intervention felt–throughout the developing world. What creates the underlying problem is, as I am sure you know, the fact that the community does not recognize the value of female education to beging with, second, that the topic is not talked about, and third, that there is an assumption that whatever method the mother or grandmother used should suffice (though neither of them probably went to school). Some in international aid have a reaction that might be summarized as “this is a trivial thing–why are we wasting our time talking about feminine napkins?” It is my hope that through this work, and any press attention to it, we can change the dismissive attitudes that some aid professionals have toward the problem (one that is as much about dignity and sexual safety as it is about school)." (see source here)

Cost and lack of availability are two cited reasons why rural girls in poor countries go without sanitary protection. What’s more, Professor Scott states that girls are perceived differently once menstruation begins.

“Part of the problem is that the onset of menstruation in remote areas of Ghana is taken as signifying the coming of actual adulthood in a way that we don’t recognize it in the West. We don’t think of a 12 or 13-year-old girl as being marriageable or sexually available. But actually in this context it’s a signal that she’s both,” she says.

A girl without sanitary protection faces serious consequences.

“Her biggest problem is that if people know about this it’s not just an embarrassment and a laughing matter. It’s something that may actually put her in danger. And at this time also families often feel it’s time to withdraw their economic support for the girl to continue in school. So she suddenly starts having quite a bit less support for her continuing education,” she says. (VOA News, source located here).


Scott stressed the importance of preventing girls from dropping out: “There is quite a lot of data at this point to show that it has positive impact on economic development and productivity. But in particular, very quick impact on fertility rates, infant mortality, disease transmission, nutritional level and of course just generally improve the individual girl’s chances of having a happy and prosperous life."

Her research is a direct and wonderful support to our work here at Grow Learn Give: “To overcome community beliefs about the unimportance of educating girls will take at least a generation of intense effort on the part of NGOs and governments, but the simple intervention of educating the girl about her period and providing her with a reliable, clean, and private way to manage it, could have a dramatic impact on female educational achievement within only a few years.”

Her conclusions are that government and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that provide free sanitary protection could aid in ensuring girls' education in a cost-effective way. She also pointed out that these programs would be most effective with a culturally sensitive approach. She concludes by stressing that communities need to be made aware of the importance of secondary education for girls (VOA News).

To read more about the article, click here.