I’ve been meaning to mention Goods 4 Girls for awhile now, ever since I first found out about it through my friend Lara. I was reminded of it today when I came across Party in my Pants via Bust magazine’s newsletter. Party in my Pants (aka PIMP) makes reusable cloth menstrual pads and through their shop they offer a way to let you purchase pads to donate to Goods 4 Girls.
Goods 4 Girls is a fabulous non-profit that collects new cloth pads to distribute to women and girls in Africa without access to menstrual care products. I was so happy when I found out that so many other people had the same reaction I did to companies like Tampax and Always, who have been recently airing commercials about how many young girls in Africa end up missing school due to lack of access to menstrual care products. Tampax and Always claim that by purchasing their products you help them fund sending lots of their disposables to these girls, thus ensuring they don’t miss school anymore.
Personally I think this is a little ridiculous. While the thought is nice, the way they’re going about it is all wrong (but of course they make the disposables, so they’re not going to advocate reusables). Deanna Duke had the same reaction to this issue and decided to do something about it by starting Goods 4 Girls. Check out their blog to see all the amazing work they’ve already accomplished in a very short time or donate to help out the cause.
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This is a great idea, I just hope they are able to look at all the barriers that these people will face. Like learning how to properly clean the reusables, how not to contaminate the water when doing so, using sterilized water versus local, not sharing them. There are many obstacles that this program is going to have to face to make this program stick and become effective. Hopefully they will implement a “ground-up” approach of training locals to teach the other women in the community. Otherwise the program could have lost lasting consequences as so many of the African “aid” projects do. (I am an anthropologist who has dabbled in reproductive health, so this is a touchy subject, sorry.)
Dustin, I totally agree with you and from what I can tell, these things are definitely all on their minds as well. In their recent news, they mention a partnership with Lwala Community Alliance, who appear to be doing a great job of distribution and education on the use of the pads.
http://www.goods4girls.org/2008/02/news.html
Something has got to be done to help so many of these girls that need items such as this so that they will be able to go to school and/or work. When you take the time to get to know these young women in Africa, they are absolutely excited to learn and go out in the world and take on new activities. If this has to be halted because they are not equipped with adequate supplies to sustain their menstrual cycles, this ultimately hurts them. I am definitely willing to help any organizations that are helping young women like the ones in Africa get the supplies they need so that they can continue to learn.