Pad drive reaches out to 158 girls in Bolobedu
The Foundation held its feminine hygiene focus groups with the core objective of teaching its beneficiaries about different types feminine hygiene products, disposal and environmental effects of used sanitary wear, as well as discussions around common experiences.
The B-Square foundation, an NPO that is focused on empowering and supporting the village girl to enable her to fulfil her dreams and ambitions, held a pad drive initiative for female learners at Thlapedi Primary School in Bolobedu South, just outside of Tzaneen, on Saturday.
Although school holidays did affect attendance, the event reached out to 158 girls from Bolobedu.
On the same day, a separate pad drive was held at Mmalesiba High School in Sekororo, Maruleng, where 55 girls attended.
Each beneficiary that attended was handed a gift pack that included a body lotion, three packs of sanitary pads as well as bathing soaps.
The NPO facilitates educational events that encourage learning and reading through mentorship programmes along with real-life interventions such as pad drive initiatives to ensure they help beneficiaries stay in school.
Read: Project in Tzaneen aims to empower young girls
The pad drive was run for two months prior to the event to collect enough sanitary pads to donate to its beneficiaries in four schools in the Mopani District to last each girl the last quarter of school.
The Foundation held its feminine hygiene focus groups with the core objective of teaching its beneficiaries about different types feminine hygiene products, disposal and environmental effects of used sanitary wear, as well as discussions around common experiences.
The presenters who delivered the message in the said workshops ensured that the beneficiaries felt safe and comfortable to share their individual experiences. Activities and interactions included requesting girls to illustrate with the use of props, how to use a sanitary pad, how and when to change a used sanitary pad as well as educating them on other types of feminine hygiene products.
Educational video clips were also shown to some of the girls who are not familiar with the innovative cost-effective menstrual-cup.
Furthermore, the focus groups were held to help alleviate the stigma that is deep-rooted in our communities related to feminine hygiene and menstruation.
Sponsors include Enamich & Co. for 588 bottles of body lotions.
The Foundation will continue to run these workshops on an annual basis and reach out to more schools in future.
