Many schoolgirls in Alex miss school during their menstrual cycle as they cannot afford to purchase sanitary towels.
Motoring company Subaru saw this need in the community and decided to donate 790 sanitary towels to Grade 8, 9 and 10 girls from Minerva High School.
Lebogang Moloi, marketing administrator at Subaru, said this is an issue that affects many young girls in the country and Subaru wanted to reduce the number of girls who miss schools simply because they were on their monthly cycles.
“Going on your period is a natural thing, girls should not feel ashamed for being on their monthly cycles,” Moloi said.
She said they had initially wanted the boys to be part of the distribution because they were often the cause of the shame and stigma behind it, but there was no space to accommodate them. “It has come to our attention that boys make fun of girls who are on their periods, making the girls feel embarrassed, thinking that there is something wrong with them.”
Moloi said that staff from Subaru had planned to donate the pads during Women’s Month, but they had not raised enough pads.
She said the sanitary towels were donated by the entire Edenvale office staff who felt that it was their responsibility to keep these girls in school.
Life orientation teacher, Noluvuyo Tshayimpi said she was grateful for the donation because this was a problem in the school. “Too often we get children who do not come to school because they are on their cycles,” Tshayimpi said.
She said the girls were excited to be receiving the donation and there was no reason for them to miss school anymore.
Abenathi Nkebetwana, in Grade 10 at the school, said she was happy because some of her peers missed school every month. “This means that they would learn a lot and would not miss school,” Nkebetwana said.
Read: Women’s Month: Lack of sanitary pads keeps girls out of school
