Pads for Prisons in Sudan
We are always on the lookout for organizations to donate cloth pads to, though our Pads4Girls campaign. The need for a sustainable solution to womens’ menstrual needs in developing countries is great and there are many wonderful organizations addressing this issue. Our newest recipient group is the Pads for Prisons project. The project exists to address the needs of women in the prisons of war-torn southern Sudan.
After two decades of civil war, the prison system in Southern Sudan has all but been destroyed and is in desperate need of reform. In the mean time the government of has identified a specific need to respond more effectively to the circumstances of children, women and other groups in prison with special needs. An assessment of the situation found that one of the issues that women in the prisons are facing is a total lack of health care and sanitary facilities, including sanitary pads.
Currently prisons are used to house numerous individuals who are not offenders, such as the mentally ill who are detained simply because the specialized facilities required to assist them simply do not exist. Aside from the many mentally ill women, many of the women detained in the prisons are not criminals by North American standards, rather they are in prison because of adultery (considered a criminal offense only for the woman involved) or they are serving time for their husbands who have unpaid debt.
Menstruation is a big challenge for the women in the prisons as they do not have adequate supplies. At best they are forced to use an old rag to deal with their period and at worst; nothing at all. According to Pads for Prisons’ website one prisoner noted that she was tied to a tree during the time of her menstrual cycle, as the guard did not want her to make a mess on the prison floor.
Pads for Prisons has already collected 610 cloth pads to send to the women and are seeking further donations to help supply all of the women at the prisons with a supply of reusable cloth pads. To donate a Pads4Girls Lunapads Kit to the Pads for Prisons project or any of our other recipient groups visit the donate pads section on Lunapads.com.
