“Menstruation is a barrier to education for many of our girls and restricts their opportunities for involvement in education and other social activities,” Elizabeth Agatha Musah-Conteh pioneer of the 4HER Charity explained to the girls.

She said the pack contains a sanitary pad, toilet roll, soap, hand sanitizer, toothbrush, paste, shaving stick, cotton bud, bag and brochure.

Elizabeth Agatha Musah-Conteh went on to say that girls’ choice of menstrual hygiene materials is often limited by cost, availability and social norms. Most of these girls she added are from poor homes with low income and they can’t afford proper menstrual products (sanitary pad) and therefore have no choice but to use improvised materials during their period.

These options range from using rags and scraps of old clothes, etc. which causes sores and are usually smelly, uncomfortable and ineffective. The rags are washed and reused several times, She disclosed.

There is no private place to change and clean the rags and often no safe water and soap to wash them properly. A culture of shame and embarrassment forces them to seek for well-hidden places even in their homes to dry the rags. These places are often damp, dark and unhealthy. 

4HER is a girl-focused empowerment organization established to tackle poverty and inequality by supporting deprived, vulnerable and marginalized girls to be educated and successful in life.