Lunapads Blog

My husband and I sent the kids away to summer camp and planned a vacation to Cuba for just the two of us. We did some research before booking our trip, and learned that Cuba is in dire need of very basic supplies. Individuals I worked with, who had recently visited Cuba, urged me to bring local Cuban women feminine hygiene products, and anything else I could possibly smuggle in. And I don’t use the word smuggle lightly! Cuban authorities do not take kindly to outsiders bringing anything into the country. Fines and being heavily taxed is a very real risk, especially when bringing in new merchandise that looks like it could be resold.

With so many people urging us to bring supplies, we really felt a responsibility to help in any way we could. It was important to us that we brought items that would last and not cause more damage to their waste systems. We collected a good variety of items; backpacks of school supplies donated by my daughter, as well as supplies from the local elementary school. I placed an ad on Craigslist asking for cloth diapers and received several new and gently used diapers.  We later learned that many locals will use a disposable diaper 2-4 times, depending how many times they could wash them out, and were glad to have these donated diapers on hand. Finally, we brought a variety of Lunapads to give to local women.

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Frédérique and her very first handmade pad!

My name is Frédérique. I am a licensed practical nurse (LPN) and am currently going to college to become a registered nurse. I have created a project called Pads for Power. My project includes collecting disposable feminine hygiene products and donating them to homeless shelters in Vancouver. It also includes making homemade reusable pads to be sent to developing countries where many women and girls living in rural settings do not have access to feminine hygiene products. Consequently, they must stay at home and miss up to a week of work or school every single month. These contributions mean that these girls and women, both near and far, will have the freedom to go to school or work every day and, in turn, the power to achieve greater success in life.

This is the story of how this project came about:

I was given an immense amount of pads and tampons from a post-menopausal friend a few months back. I wondered what to do with all of them since I already had my own little supply and didn’t feel the need to be “ready” years in advance. I had the idea of giving them to a friend from school who would be traveling to Tanzania, Africa. She was going to help with the creation of medical and education systems in rural areas. I knew there was a great need for feminine hygiene products in these areas. Unfortunately, she had no extra space for all my pads and tampons and I had to keep them all.

Soon after, I started a self-development class (in leadership) in which one must create a community project. That is when I decided to finally do something with all those pads. I would find a way to get them to women who needed them. I knew I could increase the benefits of my project by gathering feminine hygiene products from other women and, also, creating homemade reusable pads (a more eco-friendly option).

I had read about Lunapads International in a magazine and briefly visited their site and decided to give them a call to inquire about their Pads4Girls project and their shipping process. Not only did they explain the process but they even said they would help me by sending the reusable pads I created to organizations working in foreign countries! I was delighted to hear this and have been working hard at collecting and making pads since. So far I have collected and donated just over 400 disposable pads and tampons to a local shelter but my goal is to reach and help as many women as possible both near and far.

Please send an email to padsforpower@hotmail.com if you are interested in contributing disposable feminine hygiene products, materials to make reusable pads, or would like to help sew the pads (see the video on Lunapads.com’s donate pads page). Any kind of help would be greatly appreciated.

Meet Emily Wilson. She works in Zimbabwe with women’s organizations and through this work she has discovered a real need to help women and girls gain access to menstrual supplies. In Emily’s words:

“At one meeting, a member of the Women’s Coalition of Zimbabwe stated that there is a real need to engender humanitarian responses in the country; the example she gave is the fact that many women can no longer afford to buy sanitary wear, or else it is just not available in stores. This message was repeated over and over during my visits to different organizations and communities, and so knowing that I was to return to Zimbabwe again in early January, I decided to try and do something about this issue. I mobilized friends, family members and complete strangers in Ottawa to collect 35 boxes of tampons, 65 packages of maxi pads, and 5 packages of reusable pads. The collection drive was fascinating, as it started up numerous debates and discussions about the most appropriate sanitary wear for women in Zimbabwe (tampons versus pads), issues of health and sustainability (disposable versus reusable), etc. In the end, of course, I took what had been donated, and felt very grateful for all of the support received.

I took a giant suitcase of these items with me to Zimbabwe in January, and personally delivered them to a women’s shelter in the city of Bulawayo. I met with some of the young women there as well as members of the Board and people from the local Church who volunteer to help run the shelter. They were all extremely grateful and were very touched by the gesture. After discussing with them what the most appropriate items are for young women in Zimbabwe, it became clear that reusable pads are the best – in terms of being culturally appropriate, practical, and sustainable.”

This is where Lunapads comes in. Emily contacted us to help her collect enough pads to fill another suitcase (or two, or three!) with reusable cloth pads. She wants to give the women a lasting alternative and something beautiful and functional. So please, read about the groups Emily is working with in Zimbabwe and don’t hesitate to help a woman there today!

Choose: Sexual Rights Centre (Zimbabwe) from the donation options. You can donate a Pads4Girls Kit which gives a full set of pads needed for one woman/girl or you can donate any amount of money, which will go towards the purchase of more kits.

The Sexual Rights Centre is the ‘umbrella’ organization that will oversee delivery of the pads to The Haven, Contact Family Counselling and Ingutsheni Psychiatric Hospital. For the safety of the women they help we cannot provide much information about these organizations, but below are a few details.

The Haven is a shelter for abused women and their children, located in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. The shelter was established by concerned citizens and professionals from the legal, medical, psychological and education sectors. This committee of professionals started providing shelter for abused women and their children in 1999; a home was purchased as a permanent shelter in 2006. The Haven Trust and its networks provide education on women’s rights, HIV & AIDS, sexual & reproductive health, and livelihood skills. Members from the Bulawayo community provide food and in-kind support for the shelter, which is how it currently continues to operate.

Contact Family Counselling, also based in Bulawayo, offers free counselling services for families and children in difficult circumstances. The organization focuses on disadvantaged people to empower them to lead healthier and more productive lives. Contact also trains a broad range of health, social service and community workers in systemic counselling techniques. Contact initiated a Child Sexual Abuse Program in 2007, offering services to children and their families affected by sexual abuse. For more information: www.contactfc.org

Ingutsheni Psychiatric Hospital is one of the largest psychiatric facilities in Southern Africa. The hospital provides residential care and outreach support for people living with mental health problems. The hospital currently houses over 300 female patients. The hospital has experienced serious challenges in delivering effective medical resources and information for female patients. The Sexual Rights Centre currently works with the female patients at Ingutsheni and are appealing for sanitary products for the women. Access to sanitary products is a huge problem for Zimbabwean women and particularly women living in institutions.