Lunapads Blog

Hello Everyone – Emily Wilson here!

Some updates for all of you who are interested in the Lunapads distribution in Zimbabwe.

First of all, thanks to so many of you generous people, I was able to deliver 42 Pads4Girls Kits at the beginning of May, which is equivalent to $1260! This was quite an overwhelming number of contributions, and I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to all who contributed. And, thanks to Lunapads, the donation drive is going to continue as long as I am traveling to and from Zimbabwe, so if you would like to contribute more, or pass on the donation information to others who may be interested, please do so. I will be making another trip to Zimbabwe in September, so I hope to have some more pads to take with me then ;)

Second, we have a new delivery partner! Apart from the Sexual Rights Centre—which is overseeing delivery of pads in and around Bulawayo to The Haven (who received the first batch of donations in January), Contact Family Counselling and Ingutsheni Psychiatric Hospital—the Rural Libraries & Resources Development Program is now delivering pads to women in rural areas of Matabeleland.

The Rural Libraries & Resources Development Program (RLRDP) is a community-based, non-governmental organization that was established in 1990, with the aim of establishing and developing community libraries and information services to empower the rural population. They provide remote, rural communities with free, relevant and appropriate information and cater to a diverse group of users that includes preschool children, school children, youth, women and men. They have assisted 300 rural school community libraries and use donkey drawn mobile carts and book delivery bicycles to do outreach to areas where there are not proper roads.

RLRDP heard about the maxi pad donations through the Sexual Rights Centre, and asked to be involved in the project, to ensure that women and girls in rural areas also have access to sanitary wear. In May 2009, they made their first delivery of pads and tampons (by donkey cart!) to an HIV/AIDS club in Bubi District, about 70 km from Bulawayo. One of their staff members, who is helping with the delivery, sent the photo below.

* women in Bubi District, Zimbabwe, receive sanitary wear donations through the Rural Libraries & Resource Development Program

A letter from the Director of the Sexual Rights Centre from June 15th, describes some of the responses from the women and girls who have received the pads so far:

In terms of the response—it has been really positive. Contact is working with Youth for Christ (a shelter for abused women and young teenage mothers) to distribute the pads. There was a lot of excitement about the Lunapads because they are such a good idea in terms of disposal and hygiene. In the rural areas the pads were particularly popular because they can be washed and reused so the girls didn’t have to worry about disposing of them, and they are such good quality that they can be used for a long period of time. I have checked with the Ingutsheni staff and they are very keen for the patients to use the Lunapads, particularly for sustainability purposes. We are doing our distribution at Ingutsheni on Wednesday with a little workshop—the Sexual Rights Centre have also bought soap to distribute with the pads so the women are able to make best use of them.

A few days later, the Director sent another email with an update from the session at Ingutsheni, along with some photos, which are included below:

We had a fantastic session at Ingutsheni yesterday! The women were really excited…we had a demonstration with the soap and the washing and drying. There was lots of laughter as I tried to demonstrate how to wear it over my trousers! They were very happy with their pads and bars of soap and the staff will monitor everything and let us know if there are any problems.

* Mody, a woman who loves to perform poetry, holds up the Lunapads donation that she received through the Sexual Rights Centre.

* MaNcube doing a demonstration of how to use and wash the Lunapads at Ingutsheni

So, thank you all so much for your interest and generous contributions—they are making a difference in the lives of women in urban and rural Zimbabwe!

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