Spring 2024 Reusable Pad Project Launch
Since our initial project launch in 2023, Zharity’s Reusable Feminine Hygiene Pad Program has provided close to 1000 pads to girls/women in Cameroon, Hungary and Ethiopia! These pads were made through the efforts of our Zharity volunteers - from material sourcing, material cutting and sewing. In 2025, we will continue to make pads for our partner, the Nicolas Robinson School in Mekele, Ethiopia. This school supports about 1500 students from pre-K to Grade 12, of which half are girls. This part of the country has been affected by war, including their original source of reusable pads for the older girls in the school. The school has provided a great amount of support to the children during the ongoing conflict and also provides education to their students about menstruation and feminine health in general. Sending reusable pads is a sustainable and environmentally friendly approach to menstrual hygiene, especially important for marginalized regions.
In Spring of 2025, we will be making more pads that will be transported to the Nicolas Robinson School by our Swiss contact in early June! We will continue to make pads this year after the summer pause. There are 3 ways to get involved with the reusable pad project and we would welcome your support:
Material Preparation/Cutting Events: For those who do not sew, we will be hosting several fabric preparation/cutting events in March. We take in the materials but then have to cut them to the shape for our sewing team to be able to easily/quickly sew the pads. Our sign ups are now active for March 17th and March 20th for the Material Preparation events. If you are interested, please sign up HERE.
Home Sewing Team: For those who are sewers and have a machine at home, we are asking again for home sewers. These folks will receive kits of pads and will sew them at home and then return them to us at a future date. This is a great way to be involved while being able to work from home. If you would like to sign up to help sew, we will be distributing pad kits the week of March 20th.
Material Collections: While Zharity needs to purchase the materials for the inside layers of the pad for their functional purposes, we use 100% cotton fabric for the outer layers of the pad design. We also know people tend to have little “inventories” of 100% cotton layering around - especially if they are crafty. If you happen to have clean 100% cotton fabric at home that you would like to donate (the pieces must be at least 20cm x 20cm in size), please sign up for our collections HERE.
Thanks in advance for your support and we hope to see you at a future pad project event soon!
Questions: rebecca@zharity.ch
