Selected vulnerable female students from the Tanyigbe Senior High School in the Ho Municipality of the Volta Region of Ghana have received Volta Pads – Reusable Sanitary Pads to help ease the burden and the stress they go through during their menstrual cycle.
The donation was sponsored by Mario Springer a Team Member of Justworks Leadership Fellows, Executive Education Program from New York University in the USA. The Team visited Ghana in July 2024 as part of Global Immersion and also identify opportunities in Social Entrepreneurial Development.
Students in Middle and High School in Ghana are mostly faced with the challenge of taking good care of themselves during menstruation due to their inability to afford disposable pads, a situation that leads many to the use of unhygienic materials which lead to infections. Besides, most students in rural areas stain their dresses with their flow, absent themselves and most loose confidence. This among others motivated Mario to make the donation to help alleviate the suffering students go through on a monthly basis.
Having visited Amenuveve SIV Organization, producers of Volta Pads as part of the Justworks Leadership Fellow site visit, Mario Springer met Roberta Donkor the manageress of Volta Pads who recounted the story of how her inability to buy disposable pads cause her to use some of these unconventional and unhealthy materials to take care of her menstrual hygiene when she was young.
Speaking to the students of the school during the donation exercise, Miss Donkor said that having experienced such a situation when she was younger, she made it a point to make sure she helped as many girls as possible not to go through the same ordeal. Starting off by getting pads and donating them to girls at different schools, she realized she could only do a little. Questioning herself how the girls would take care of themselves after the pads she donated were used. Finding long term sustainable solutions to addressing menstrual hygiene gave birth to Volta Pads – Reusable Sanitary Pads.
Volta Pads is certified by Ghana Standards Authority and last for two years since it is reusable. Volta Pads can be used again and again without having to bother about the pressure of buying a new one within 24 months.
In a bid to alleviate the stress some girls go through during their monthly periods, the Amenuveve SIV Organization, with sponsorship from Mr. Mario Springer, donated forty (40) reusable pads to forty students of Tanyigbe Senior High School on Wednesday, the 7th of August 2024.
Miss Donkor, also used the occasion to give the students some menstrual health education and how to use the pad effectively. She exhibited and displayed how to fix the pads on pants, detach them after use, fold them and conceal them properly in a small waterproof patch that comes with the pack, and how to wash them and dry them properly. Each pack of reusable Volta Pads contains four pieces of pads- two for light flow and two for heavy flow.
She mentioned that girls should learn to dry their pants and reusable pads in the sun and not inside their rooms as they normally do due to the fear of being laughed at or stigmatized by boys.
Miss Donkor went further to encourage the male students not to discriminate or stigmatize their female counterparts as women often go through a lot of pain during their monthly periods and the least they can do is to help and support them other than to laugh at or stigmatize them.
The board chairman of Amenuveve SIV Organization, Mr. Agbo Narh, added his voice as he emphasized that menstruation is a pride for women as without it, no woman can get pregnant. He encouraged them that, on the contrary, not being able to menstruate is rather a health challenge, so girls should not be shy of having their monthly periods.
He also spoke about how Volta Pads are not just economically friendly but also good for the environment as compared with the disposable ones in terms of decomposition after use. He therefore entreated the students to use Volta Pads as it will not only help them spend less on buying pads every month at an all-time high cost but also help them conserve and preserve the environment from degradation as the slogan for the Volta Pads goes “Good for her; Good for earth”.
On his part the headmaster of the school Mr. E. G. Seake-Kwawu was so grateful to the sponsor of the donation. He also praised Amenuveve SIV ORG for under taking such a wonderful project which will lessen the burden on girls as a whole. He advised the beneficiaries to take good care of the pads
The Girl’s Prefect of the school, in an interview on behalf of the girls, expressed gratitude to the organization and donors as she explained that the donation will go a long way to ease the stress of some female students who often have challenges maintaining proper menstrual hygiene during their monthly flow.
Amenuveve-Volta Pads, is therefore using this opportunity to educates the public on menstrual hygiene both on-site and online via its website, www.voltapads.org and as well use the occasion to call on individuals, philanthropists, corporate Organizations, and the general public to support and donate funds to empower girls enjoy good menstrual hygiene.