You wouldn’t be blamed if you haven’t heard about a village called Kaababbi Bulondo, even though it is in Wakiso district. High hills, poor road connections and sprawling farms have condemned this village into remoteness, poverty and desperation.
In many poverty-stricken villages in Uganda such as Bulondo, providing young girls with sanitary pads is considered a luxury. But helping them acquire the skills of how to make one not only sounds interesting but also makes economic sense for disadvantaged kids of Uganda.
Last Friday, Korean volunteers organized a practical session for hundreds of preteens and teenage girls of Kaababbi Bulondo primary school to teach them how to make reusable sanitary pads, besides equipping them with other essential hygiene tricks for teeth brushing and hand-washing.
Indeed as observed by Juyaung An, the Volunteer programme manager at KOICA Uganda, equipping girls with the know-how on stitching pieces of clothe into a pad is a hugely liberating achievement.
“Since it is not sustainable to keep giving out free pads, we thought it would be better to teach kids how to make the pads themselves ,” says An.
The Korean volunteers not only imparted practical skills on making the Blooming butterfly pads, they also donated panties, needles and threats, a piece of soaking towel which they can use to put together a pad.
Helping to improve the lives of young girls at Bulondo fits well with South Korea’s foreign policy mission that specifically targets keeping girl child in school.
Lack of sanitary pads is a major cause of drop outs for girls at Bulondo, according to Edward Bogere, the school’s head master.
“On average girls lose about 12 days in a term because of their menstrual periods because they lack pads. They feel uncomfortable sitting in class or being ridiculed by their peers,” says Bogere.
If acquired skills are put into practice, they will help save at least 10 girls from dropping out of school because of the discomfort that forces girls of Kaababbi Bulondo from dropping out of school.Why it is easier to acquire a loan than to repay
