A local resident is taking it upon himself through his non-profit organisation to make sanitary pads accessible to those who can’t afford them.
The 23-year-old Kopano Hosene, a final-year student at the University of Johannesburg (UJ) who is studying toward a BEng Tech in Electrical Engineering is the founder of Modimo O Teng Foundation (MOTF).
I started this initiative because I’ve seen my classmates from high school suffering. Instead of helping each other as girls they laughed at one another. I only took it seriously after I joined the UJ Community Engagement Group and as a group we would engage with different orphanages and children’s homes.”
That’s when he realised that it was a serious issue because some girls said they couldn’t even attend school because of the lack of sanitary pads.
“Then one of the students approached me and asked if I could buy her sanitary pads. I asked her ‘why me’ and she said I was the only person who was friendly to approach. I realised I had to step in, and I started asking for sanitary pads donations from my Facebook friends. When people started donating, I thought about registering an NPO.”
According to Kopano, his foundation also focuses on working with mini-libraries, schools and orphanages to provide books and convince the youth that education is imperative. One of their priorities is also making education fashionable.
MOTF commits itself to making sure that the youth knows the importance of education. We are willing to work with other organisations to help learners with their educational needs.”
Modimo O Teng Foundation does the following:
• Ensures that sanitary pads are accessible to every female who needs them
• Ensures that schools have sanitary pads so that females can access them in case they need them when they are at school
• Helps child-headed poor families with basic needs
• Works with orphanages
• Helps mini-libraries by providing them with books so people from the community can access them
