GRAAFF-REINET NEWS — Many young girls from poor homes are missing school as a result of being unable to afford sanitary towels.
DA Caucus Leader Cllr Samantha Graham said that for a number of years, she has been hearing the stories of how “in a Constitutional democracy where human dignity and equality is espoused and lauded, poor women are still living as marginalised citizens”.
Cllr Graham continued: “I recently watched a documentary on homeless women and in this, they all spoke of the difficulties of being a poor woman dealing with menstruation every month. I found this deeply upsetting as it is not something that I ever have to give too much thought to as I am able to afford the items needed to deal with menstruation. With it being Women’s Month, I wanted to do something that had real meaning.”
The DA Women’s Network (DAWN) in the Eastern Cape and the DA Students’ Organisation (DASO) at Nelson Mandela University embarked on a sanitary towel drive and Cllr Graham decided that she wanted to do the same thing in Graaff-Reinet. As a Councillor, she is assigned to work in Ward 6 Umasizakhe) and she decided to collect as many sanitary towels as possible and hand them over to Nqweba Secondary School in Umasizakhe.
The response to the request was phenomenal. Not only did a number of people donate packs directly, either dropping them off at Mooi Nooi Boutique with Amelia Marx to be collected, but there were also cash donations. Money was received from people in Graaff-Reinet, Aberdeen, Cape Town and the Philippines, a total of R 1240 in cash.
Special mention must be made of Kitty Viljoen from Asante Sana who donated a box of 48 sanitary towels and Spar Brands who donated 200 packs, which was facilitated by Amelia Marx.
The Marketing Department of Montego Pet Nutrition also all clubbed in and contributed 25 packs. Matric learner Annie Jankovich also organised a collection at Union High, which was well-supported.
The handover of 525 packs was done on Thursday, August 10, immediately after school. A special assembly was arranged with just the female learners, where Cllr Graham spoke to the girls about how this contribution from so many people should indicate to these girls how valued they are. She highlighted the fact that while sex is a choice that people make, the government supports this by providing free condoms.
Yet, a woman has no choice when it comes to menstruation and there is no provision for free sanitary towels for women.
“This campaign was about recognising the right to dignity of every woman, no matter how poor. It was about honouring the right to education of our female learners by ensuring that every girl can continue to attend school, even during her menstruation” said Cllr Graham.
Cllr Graham handed the sanitary towels over to the school who will manage the distribution to the individual learners as they require them. The learners were extremely grateful and happy that people had been so generous in their support of this initiative.
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