MBOMBELA – Caring4Girls Foundation started the year on a high note following the open heart of the Li-Lets, We Are Women campaign. The sanitary-protection company based in Durban donated 333 000 sanitary towels to a similar programme of Imbumba Foundation based at Luphisi Village.
This comes after it partnered with the foundation as part of the Trek4Mandela expedition and supported the campaign with more than 80 000 packets of sanitary pads.
Mpumalanga News learnt that Trek4Mandela was launched when the CEO, Richard Mabaso of Imbumba Foundation and founder and visionary of Caring4Girls and Vision 20/20 initiatives, overheard a fearful conversation between his mother and niece about menstrual challenges.
This got him to take action and inspire change through creating create awareness on the plight of underprivileged girls in rural areas.
Each year, the campaign raises a minimum of 67 000 packets of sanitary pads (in line with the 67 Minutes for Mandela Day). This makes Caring4Girls to completely embody the ethos of “Make Every Day a Mandela Day”, because sanitary pads are distributed throughout the year.
It has been revealed by various sources that an underprivileged girl could miss between three and seven days of schooling due to menstrual challenges – this can only mean that we all need to something to be part of the solution.
“My biggest wish is to see all young girls of this country being successful and receiving better education.
“After our foundation discovered that there were girls who were forced to stay at home every month because they didn’t have sanitary towels, I realised that I had to do something for them and I’m happy to see the project growing every year through the support of our partners.
We are working together to better the lives of people from disadvantaged communities in all nine provinces,” Mabaso explained.