DIY pads campaign for period poverty awareness

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Holly Nicholsin Milton Keynes

Lily-May Symonds/BBC Three women sit at a table covered with brightly patterned fabric, working on handmade reusable menstrual pads. Each person is holding up a piece of fabric or a partially completed pad. The table is scattered with sewing materials, cloth pieces and a mug. Behind them, large posters show scenes of humanitarian work. Lily-May Symonds/BBC

Charity workers Jane Knoop, Delphine Wolfe and Alekhya Kasi are taking part in the Post Your Pad campaign

A humanitarian charity is urging people to craft reusable period pads, in solidarity with women and girls across the world facing period poverty.

The Post Your Pad campaign, by Milton Keynes-based World Vision UK, is encouraging people to make simple pads.

The reusable pads, which can then be donated or used by the maker, are based on the same products that communities in Tanzania craft for themselves.

Charity chief executive, Fola Komolafe, said she wanted people to experience "what it's like to make a sanitary towel" to give them a greater understanding of the issue.

People joining the campaign have been asked to post pictures online as a statement of support for the 500 million people it says lack these safe period hygiene facilities.

Lily-May Symonds/BBC Fola Komolafe is seated indoors in an office setting. She has long braided hair and is wearing a long‑sleeved, ribbed black top. Behind her is a large printed backdrop featuring outdoor scenes with wooden fencing, greenery, and people standing in nature. To one side of the image, there is a standard office chair and a desk with a small plant on it. Lily-May Symonds/BBC

World Vision UK's chief executive, Fola Komolafe, said the campaign encouraged conversations around period poverty

Komolafe told the BBC she had just returned from a trip to South Sudan, where she said a packet of period pads cost about £20.

She explained that in Tanzania, west Africa, communities were forced to "make do" with their own local resources to create something "reusable" that gave them "dignity".

She added the charity campaign was encouraging people to get together to create similar pads, because many women globally "can't go to the store and get the branded products that sometimes we take for granted".

If people want to take part, the charity will provide the tools and materials to make the pads and send through the same guides that communities use in Tanzania.

The pads are made from cotton and an absorbent towel-like material to line them.

The campaign, which was launched ahead of International Women's Day last month, also highlights the issue of water necessity for sanitation and feminine hygiene.

World Vision UK A woman in Tanzania stands outdoors beneath the shade of tall trees, holding her arms up as she clips a freshly washed reusable period pad on to a clothes line. She wears a mustard‑coloured sweater, and the sunlight filters softly through the leaves around her. Behind her, the ground is covered in dry grass and scattered foliage, with a backdrop of green vegetation stretching into the distance.World Vision UK

Post Your Pad is based on the reusable period pads that communities in Tanzania make

Komolafe added that "everything starts with a conversation - stitch one [period pad] as a family and have a conversation", which she hoped would lead to action to support girls "locally, nationally or internationally".

Period poverty is also an issue in the UK, with three in 10 girls not having access to menstrual hygiene products, according to World Vision UK.

The Milton Keynes-based period poverty charity Girl Pack has also expressed gratitude to World Vision UK for highlighting "one of the forgotten poverties".

The current charity lead, Jenny Head, described World Vision UK's campaign as "fantastic", and added: "It's something that can be dealt with - we need more people to talk about it".


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