Special need girls get sanitary pad donation

Girls from disadvantaged families in the Payneville area have received donations of sanitary towels and will now be able to go to school when they have their periods.

At 9am on Friday the outreach took place at the Payneville Primary School and involved the SAPS and EMPD social crime prevention unit as well as the SAPS communications department.

“We don’t want to see learners skipping classes when they are menstruating just because they cannot afford to buy pads,” says Zandile Kubeka who is from the office of the regional EMPD director.

EMPD initiated the campaign while the Springs Police initiated a second-hand clothing collection and decided to make the donation a joint effort with the EMPD.

The project was spearheaded by Capt Mangezi Mapukata of the Springs police and Kubeka.

“The school was identified during Women’s Month and that is when the idea was established to donate sanitary pads to the girls,” says Kubeka.

Her team feels strongly about the fact that Grade Seven girls should not miss school because they don’t have sanitary towels and urged all to work together to improve the lives of those underprivileged girls

“We handed out clothes to all Grade R class learners,” Mapukata added.

The school’s teachers were ecstatic about the donations.

Marie Nkwanazi says because the social economic background of these children is bad, it is good to educate them on hygiene and their needs for pads.

“We wish we could get more people to open their hearts, just like the SAPS and EMPD unit members did,” she says.

Mubi Rapetswa, head of the school’s foundation phase, says they are extremely grateful for the support they received from the law enforcement departments.