Hygeinic situation of most rural communities in Cameroon
Majority of women and girls in rural areas cannot afford sanitary pads during menstruation. This lack compromises menstrual hygiene since they resort to used cloths etc. Most especially, it affects the general confidence and psyche of women especially girls in primary school who get stained and shy away from school during menses. Also, there are few or none existent sanitary facilities for the disposal of faeces which further compromises community health.
This is because, there are generally no safe water sources available in most rural areas and inhabitants have to share the streams with livestock and other wild animals. When it rains during the rainy season, faeces disposed in the fields are washed down into the streams which serve the household water needs. During the dry season, the faeces dry up and are transported by the wind to the water sources.
We offer health talks every week to different schools and demonstrate to young girls how to use pads. This aims at improving the level of health and sanitation within primary and secondary schools.
We run a sanitation programme that deals with the drilling of wells (bore-holes) for primary schools, construction of pit toilets and the giving of sanitary pads to girls in schools.
See what one packet of sanitary pad worth 2 USD can do for a girl!
-It will prevent her from using old dirty cloths which are infection pruned,
-It will prevent her from staining her uniform and shying away from school
-It will create a working relationship between her and our health educator thus, erasing ignorance and infection while opening a door for reproductive hygiene!
In cash, your gift of 20 USD can buy her pads for one academic year!
In kind, you may volunteer to give an educative talk or dig a pit toilet for a family (especially one in which there are no able males)!
You can also fund or help us raise funds to drill wells for schools.
How will these actions solve the development puzzle of the rural poor?
-It will reduce the rate of virginal infections for young girls; reduce the spread of water borne diseases like diarrhoea, dysentery and cholera, thus reducing expenditures on health. It will also boost the morale of girls in school thus offering an enabling environment for learning.