Menstrual Cup
THE NEW PERIOD
Period is something all girls over the world have to
deal with. One a little earlier than the other. Girls in
the slums and rural areas in Kenya don’t have it
easy. Sanitary pads cost an average daily wage..
What if you had to choose, do I buy food today or
sanitary pads? For this reason, girls often stay home
from school and miss out a lot of knowledge which is
very important for their future.
Girls often use pieces of fabric, leaves, a sock filled with sand because it absorbs. Or girls have sex for money to buy sanitary pads, which often results in a
pregnancy at a very young age. THIS HAS TO STOP!!
Foundation Move-Up helps these girls by giving out menstrual cups.A sustainable solution because 1 cup lasts for 10 years and does not cause any waste. We think it is important that girls feel comfortable
and dare to open up, so Foundation Move Up has trained a team who are giving classes about the use of the Cup, everything about menstruation and what
is involved and very important about hygiene.
We
are now also training trainers so that the cup can be distributed throughout Kenya. We do this in schools and sports facilities in the slums of Nairobi, Kenya and rural areas. Because menstruation is still quite taboo, we often first have conversations with schools and for the younger girls also with the mothers so that they also
receive all the information and their own cup. It means they can exchange information and experiences with their daughters. With this we hope to slowly break the taboo a bit and keep the girls in
school.
The most shocking thing was they told me many girls don’t go to school during their period and miss a lot from school every month. During the talk I had my own period and for me I was already using a period cup for many years. That moment the idea came up to help the girls with a period cup. For now we trained a team of trainers in Mathare who teach girls everything about the cups, from hygiene to how to use and all the questions girls have. The trainers are also available as a source of information if there are still questions afterwards.
We spread cups already in
Mathare at the Slin Library
Babadogo at Shadrack Juma Library
Two times in Kiambu – Kirigiti
Two times at Mysa Komarock
September 2019 I received the painful message that a 14 year old schoolgirl took her own life after a teacher embarrassed her for having her period in class. It was her first period. This happened in a school in Bomet County
To reach more and more girls in Kenya we are working on a Documentary about the difficulties from girls and their period and also the major pollution.The documentary will be finished at the end of this January. Hoping that we can get more and more support to help the girls in Kenya
Main objective is that girls can live a normal life during their period and if they have a cup they are safe their whole school period because you can use the cup for 10 years.
Together we can make a change of periods