Our students have started a campaign to highlight the issue of ‘period poverty’.
They have made a powerful video demonstrating the support for their campaign across the school. The campaign has been driven by shocking facts surrounding the topic of period poverty, and they are raising funds to provide girls in Kenya as well as within the high school with access to sanitary products. You can see it here:
Stark statistics demonstrate the problem both at home and overseas.
– Around the world, an estimated one in ten young women has been unable to afford protection for their period. 12% have been forced to improvise with devices that may be ineffective, unhygienic and unsafe.
– Girls in sub-Saharan Africa miss up to 20% of schooldays due to menstruation, while one-third of girls in South Asia report missing school every month during their periods.
– Scotland was the first country in the world to give free tampons for low-income families.
Ellen Clarke, deputy head girl, said: “Back in 2019, I had the amazing opportunity to visit Kenya as part of a voluntary trip in partnership with the school. We volunteered our services at impoverished schools and got to see the struggles faced by the children at school first-hand, especially when they had no one to turn to for advice on what to do, in their time of need.”
Ellen and fellow students packed their bags with sanitary products, many of which had been sewn as washable items, and gave them to girls in the schools in Nakuru, Kenya.
“You should have seen their faces when we got out the bras and pads. They were elated. I would do that trip all over again just to experience that moment one more time. There was screaming and crying.
“This to them seems like a gift, but no girl should ever feel that their period is a hindrance or that sanitary wear is a privilege. It is a necessity, something that every girl should have access to, no matter where they are in the world.”
Head girl Bryony Keane said: “In December Tiverton High School received the first of two grants of £1440 from the Department of Education enabling the purchase of more than 7600 sanitary products for students and teachers in the school.
With the second grant now received, Bryony believes the school is able to take ”a massive step forward” in their fight against period poverty.
“We would never want any of our students to not come into school due to their period,” she said. “They should know that we are not running out of them any time soon! This is our first step of many towards a period poverty free school, and so watch this space, we will be back!”
The school is planning to return to Nakuru in July 2022, to continue enabling dignity for the girls at the schools they will be working in. To support their campaign visit their Go Fund Me page here: gf.me/u/zmgtjg
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