‘Every girl deserves sanitary pads’ — NGO distributes menstrual products in Abuja

Ashley Lori, founder of Padup Africa, says every girl child deserves to have access to sanitary pads and menstrual hygiene products.

Speaking on Wednesday during an outreach to mark the World Menstrual Hygiene Day in Abuja, Lori said access to menstrual hygiene products creates a balanced society.

“A girl that cannot have access to sanitary pads or menstrual hygiene products cannot achieve her potential, and we can’t have a balanced society without an equal opportunity given to a girl and a boy,” Lori said.

“So, we are here to maximise the African girl’s potential by enabling her to have access to sanitary wares, menstrual hygiene products, good sanitation, and a balanced mental health so she can concentrate on her school and study.

“The myth is this society is strong. This is a society where we interviewed a girl who said she likes to use rag, and that when she washes her blood and pours it on the floor, God accepts her sacrifice.

“So, we are fighting and trying to demystify that myth because this environment has a lot of social and religious myths surrounding menstruation which we need to demystify and make them understand that menstruation is just a free flow of blood and nothing more.”

Some of those who received the products said it would help solve challenges relating to menstruation.

“I’m just happy. I am happy to accept this gift. In the next one month, I won’t buy. The money that I will use to buy pad, I will use it to eat for the next one month,” Blessing Moses, a 22-year-old, said.

On her part, 30-year-old Zainab Ali, a divorcee who works at a restaurant where she earns N500 daily, said she is not always able to afford sanitary pads but uses “rags” instead.

“I use pad to do my period. When I finish, I remove it and throw it away. But when I don’t have money, I use rag. When I finish with the rag, I wash it and dry it,” she told TheCable.

“I say thank you to you people that have come to give us pad. God will bless you.”

Also speaking, Ladi Ogbolea, the project coordinator, appealed to well-meaning Nigerians and the government to support the organisation in training women to be financially independent.

“If we can get people to support us with sewing machines and materials, I think there are so many girls out there who are willing to come into the market by selling reusable pads,” she said.

“We are asking for support from Nigerians, well-wishers, and the government too. Please, support Padup Africa. Don’t kill our dream; don’t kill the girl child. Make them feel comfortable; make them be proud of themselves that ‘yes, they menstruate’. Menstruation is not a taboo.”

In 2019, TheCable published a report which documented the plight of girls who cannot afford sanitary pads and are forced to use pieces of clothes, toilet paper, leaves, and cotton wool during their monthly periods.

Shortly after the publication of the story, the house of representatives demanded that sanitary pads be made available to schoolgirls regularly.

The federal government also exempted sanitary products from value-added tax (VAT) in the new finance law.