Sew Long, Poor Attendance!

Rafiki Africa strives to provide women and girls with feminine hygiene education and materials.

The beauty packs available for our girls help us meet this goal. Starting in April, the new tailoring class will meet the needs for other schools, as well as LightHouse Academy.

Disposable sanitary pads in Kenya are expensive: not every girl can afford them, and not having sanitary pads means girls miss a week of school every month.

To meet this need, the current Women & Girls group are learning to tailor sanitary pads and panties. These garments are made of cotton fabric on the outside and the insides consist of an absorbent woolen material. The girls can hand-wash the garments with soap and reuse them for three months. The cotton material is relatively inexpensive because they grow and process cotton in the country. As well, the reusable nature of the panties makes this project more affordable.

The local and neighboring schools have said sanitary pads improve the girls’ performance and school attendance, so there is a strong market and need for these materials.

Therefore, after meeting the need in Alendu, this group will start selling the panties to neighboring schools, increasing even further the impact Rafiki Africa has in the greater community.

How you can help:

Pray for the current group of women and girls who are learning to tailor pads and panties.