An Overlooked Need
Have you ever had an experience that made you so embarrassed you didn’t want to leave your room? That’s how many of the teenage girls felt at the Kids with a Vision Foundation (KWAV) home in Nigeria. Once a month, for as much as a week at a time, the girls would stay in their rooms and even refuse to go to school.
The home had been primarily focused on food, education, psychological/social support and the spiritual growth of the children. Most of the donations they received went toward clothes and shoes, but hygiene products like feminine pads were often overlooked. Sandra Chikan, one of the women who works with the home said,
“We never really gave attention to the importance of sanitary pads in the lives of our girls. Maybe we assumed it was a secondary need.”
The home realized that the girls were worried about bleeding through in public when they were on their periods. When leadership at the home understood how much this mattered, they made efforts to purchase pads, but didn’t have sufficient funds. “We resorted to 2 girls sharing a pack or they would use some fabric and fold it like a pad,” reports Sandra.
Partnership and Action
A Child’s Hope Foundation recently partnered with Kids with a Vision, completed a Thrive Assessment to see where the home’s current standing was, and helped them make an Improvement Roadmap through the Thrive Program. Kids with a Vision then decided on the three biggest projects they needed to tackle:
- Renovating their kitchen area.
- Creating more personal storage for the kids.
- Providing female hygiene products for the girls in the home.
Impact and Advocacy
After careful consideration, they chose to first focus on the girls. Using money from the Strategic Initiative Fund (provided by donors looking to help kids around the world), the home was able to provide each girl with a package of their own sanitary supplies for each month over the next 6 months. The girls were delighted. According to Sandra,
“[this gift] has made our girls joyful. It has boosted their confidence, improved their hygiene, and elevated their self esteem.”
Kids with a Vision hopes to share their story with many others in their network to show that sanitary supplies are important in their home and that sanitary hygiene matters to every girl, everywhere.
