Following on from the huge success of the Pants for Malawi campaign two years ago, Trinity School in Croydon is once again fundraising for period pants for girls who attend our partner school in Malawi.
The fundraising appeal was launched last week during a Sixth Form assembly in which Mrs Prestney, who spearheaded the original campaign, talked to the students about why periods are still such a ‘taboo’ subject*.
While this is slowly changing, for girls in Malawi (and many other countries) managing menstruation is a huge issue and one of the reasons that girls often drop out of school. Girls in poor rural communities don’t have access to sanitary products and use cloth or leaves instead, which are uncomfortable and obvious to others, so they are often bullied. They miss school during their period, increasingly get behind in their studies, are not able to catch up easily because of a lack of other resources and eventually drop out.
Period pants are a wonderful solution, because they are sustainable and discrete. During last year’s trip to Malawi, our Sixth Form students took over stocks for girls in Year 9 and 10 who attended our partner primary school Chipwepwete but are now at neighbouring Hope Secondary School. The female teachers (pictured) there were “very excited at how transformational this could be for the girls.” That is why we are looking to raise funds for our next group of students to take over supplies when they visit in July.
Mrs Prestney said, “My aim is to try and raise as much money as we can over the next few weeks to provide girls in Malawi with period pants. This is vital for them to continue receiving an education throughout their period, and avoid the period shame that they are currently experiencing. In terms of the difference your money can make £45 will buy a pack of five which, with washing at intervals, will accommodate a girl through her monthly cycle for the foreseeable future.”
We know fundraising for these essential products can make a huge and positive impact on the girls at Hope Secondary School, and so we ask you to consider donating to this important cause. The dedicated JustGiving page is here or via the QR code (left).
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*Mrs Prestney revealed that due to a complete lack of understanding, menstruation has been miscommunicated and feared for centuries with Plinny the Elder, a Roman philosopher, even claiming that menstrual blood was so poisonous and possessed of black magic that it would turn wine sour, kill trees and crops, blunten swords, make mirrors fog up, turn bronze and iron rusty, and kill bees in their hives.
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