An event planned by girls, for girls.

Hello internet! It’s been awhile since I’ve written, so I have a lot of updates.

I can’t even remember when I wrote last, but I know that I have to tell you all about the reusable pad-making event that my school hosted for school girls in early April! 

Background: Last May, my counterpart, Amada, and I took three girls to a REDES (girls developing in education and health) 3-day workshop in Inhambane (the province north of ours). You can read about that workshop HERE. At the workshop, we learned how

to make reusable pads, which are made out of capulana (traditional Mozambican fabric), bath towels, plastic table cloths, and sheet fabric. The girls loved the idea and thought we should teach other girls in the community how to make these resources.

Why are these resources needed? Well, a pack of 8 disposable pads costs 75 mets (about $1.25). That may not sound like a lot of money, but let’s put it into perspective: a piece of bread costs 5 mets, 4 tomatoes costs 15 mets, and a kilo of rice costs 50 mets. So, the amount of money it costs to purchase one pack of pads (that won’t get the average girl through an entire period) could also purchase FIFTEEN pieces of bread, FIVE bundles of tomatoes, or 1.5 KILOGRAMS of rice. When deciding between multiple meals (necessities) or 8 pads (luxury), families must choose the former, leaving their daughters to manage their periods in other, questionably effective, ways. 

For this reason, most girls fold up a piece of cloth, bundle it into their underwear, and say a little prayer before heading off to school for 5 hours (knowing that toilet paper, trash cans, soap and water are certainly not available). Pair that with the natural cruelty that is the sum of teenage boys + visible period blood, and you have a girl who would rather miss class than face a near-death experience caused by embarrassment. Moral of the story: girls regularly miss class because of their periods. And, if they do show up, they’re probably too worried about standing up with blood on their skirts to effectively absorb any information. 

As a teacher, that doesn’t sit well with me. A menstrual period is a signal that a girl/woman’s body is healthy enough to bear a child. But that same positive sign of health is preventing many girls from regularly coming to school; and a couple days each month undoubtedly adds up. 

So, when we learned about these reusable pads at the workshop, I knew I wanted to bring it back to my community. We had a meeting with all the girls in the REDES group, where they learned how to make these pads. I tried to learn how to use an electric sewing machine and it was kind of successful. The girls hand-sewed part of the pads and I finished off the outer edges with the machine. While it was a good first start, I learned that having the girls hand sew any part of it would not suffice, because the pads would likely fall apart after one wash. Mental Note #1: teenage girls can’t sew. I also learned that selling these pads at school would not be a good first step: My idea was that our group could make quality pads (after action was taken on Mental Note #1), and then we could sell them at school. We could price them to allow for a little profit that could go back into our REDES group. Well, this was immediately shot down as the girls all shouted at one time “the girls who need these can’t afford to buy them!!”. Mental Note #2: we need to offer pads at no-cost. 

Deep in thought learning to sew.

Some REDES girls making pads.

So, I needed to refine the sewing process, and figure out a way to offer these resources to all school girls for free. Ok then. Easy Peasy…? Not really. 

The only way I could make this happen without spending all of my meager PCV living allowance was to apply for a grant. Michelle Obama started an initiative called Let Girls Learn** (LGL), which provides grants to projects supporting girls’ education in designated LGL countries. Thankfully, Moz is an LGL country and grant money was available. After a long grant-writing process and expert help from my good friend and former United Way boss Talia, the money came in mid-February and the event took place on April 1st. It was 6 weeks of a lot of prep work (shout out to Tess for spending so many hours cutting squares of fabric), but it truly paid off. Here’s how the event went…

**Turmp's budget will completely eliminate this initiative. I have so many angry words to say about this but instead I'll just call him a big bag of dicks and move on.

Seven local seamstresses were invited to come and sew up pads for a small wage, the local school snack shop organized and distributed cold drinks (high class sugar-soda called Fizz), and my good friend Mana Marta made egg sandwiches*, which were also distributed at the school snack shop. My awesome roommate Tess worked with the hospital to organize staff members to come and give a presentation on feminine health and women empowerment, and offer free HIV testing. A teacher with a truck was recruited to haul sewing machines from the market to the school, and a different teacher was recruited to bring sound equipment so we could play music. Six other local volunteers were recruited to come help with day-of logistics, such as welcoming girls, explaining instructions and making sure the chaos was kept to a healthy minimum. They were all super helpful and I’m grateful that they gave up an entire Saturday to help me. 

An awesome volunteer helping a girl cut out her materials.

My awesome roommate and righthand lady, Tess.

Awesome Volunteers

*Note: I wanted to hand out pre-packaged cookies as the snack, but Mana said that people might talk smack about having a crappy snack, so she offered to make egg sandwiches. Six hundred of them, to be exact. She and her family carted multiple bags of bread until 11pm the night before, and woke up again at 3am to begin frying up eggs. Talk about a friend. 

Mana Marta, Egg Sandwich Maker Extraordinaire. 

Girls showed up around 8am and some volunteers lead introductory games while the classrooms at the school were set up. Seamstresses arrived and set up their stations, pad-making instructions were written on the board and materials were divided between 8 classrooms. Girls were then distributed among the classrooms, instructions were given, and girls got to work cutting the four different types of materials, using provided stencils. Once the materials were cut and ready the seamstresses sewed them up and gave them back to the girls. The girls finished the pad off by hand sewing a button on one of the wings, and cutting a slit in the other, in order to fasten the pad underneath the underwear. This process didn’t take very long, but with girls trickling in throughout the morning, and for more girls than seamstresses, we all had our work cut out for us. 

Girls learning the steps to make their pads.

Girls cutting materials together. Sharing is caring.

Seamstresses Sewing.

Midway through the event, girls ate snack and the hospital staff gave their presentation. They not only talked about avoiding HIV/AIDs, family planning, and the use of female condoms, but also about general female empowerment. Women have choices. Women can find good jobs with well-paying salaries. Women are not defined by the men that they marry. Pre-mature marriage is not mandatory. Using a female condom lets you be the boss of your body. You can say no. You can obtain an education. You can choose to not have children. You can live independently. You can be happy.

As a woman, you can.

Girls listening to the hospital staffers give an engaging talk.

This presentation lasted about a half hour, was very interactive and the girls were attentive and participative. After the presentation, free HIV testing was offered and over 20 girls took advantage of that opportunity. That it itself is a huge win. Here in Moz, we like to say, “A Saber é Vivir” (to know is to live). 

After the presentation, girls were released back to their classrooms to continue cutting and sewing and were free to go once they finished. In total, we had around 400 girls come and participate. We had music and food and Fizz and pads…and really, what else do you need for a good time? 

Although I’m usually not a huge fan of one-and-done events, we have a plan in place to continue this effort. Each seamstress was given material to make 20 more pads each, which can be sold at a low price at their individual shops. This way, girls who couldn’t attend the event or would like to have more than one pad (it’s best, in my opinion, to have three) will have access and seamstresses have another opportunity to increase their personal income. Our REDES group will also use the leftover materials from the event to make and sell pads on site at school. 

The event went really well. First and foremost, the girls discovered and made resources that will really support them in their daily lives. They heard strong and empowering words from other female leaders in the community. They got HIV tested. They had time to be girls without boys. Maybe they made new friends. Probably they danced. Definitely they felt cared about. Important. Worthy. 

A success. 

Happy girls with finished pads.