Foundation distributes 480 sanitary towels to secondary school girls in Nasarawa

The Nikki Udezue Foundation through an individual donor, #ICan, has distributed 30 packs of sanitary towels containing about 480 Sanitary towels to girls at Government Junior Secondary School, Nyanya Gbagyi, Nasarawa State.

This is just as the Foundation also conducted lectures and training for the girls on menstrual hygiene and also teach them how to make alternative menstrual pads when the need arises.

The Founder of Nikki Udezue Foundation, Nkeiruka Anthonia Udezue while speaking with Nigerian Tribune, said the individual donor contacted her Foundation to carry out the project in Nigeria as part of her birthday celebration.

“We got a call from an individual donor in the United Kingdom, on the 24th is her birthday and she has indicated interest to collaborate with Nikki Udezue Foundation to run this project for her.

“This Pad The Girl Child is directed to our girls, empowering them and educating them on menstrual hygiene so that they will be able to manage themselves during their menstrual period because this has brought about a lot of stigmatisation in the girl child and some of them even miss out on school activities because of menstruation.

“#ICan is the individual donor from the United Kingdom who has indicated that we could give the girls pads, Nikki Udezue Foundation is now giving two cycles of pad to our young girls and we will be teaching them how to make these pads, they will do it themselves”, she said.

Udezue said the aim of the project is to enlighten the girl child and teach them how to make alternative pads using cotton wool, clean towels and other hygienic materials.

“So, this is to enlighten them, also teach them way that they can make alternative pads using cotton wool, clean towels so that they will be able to manage themselves in an event they cannot reach out to pads.

She said they were targeting 138 girls but the number increased to 150 girls, and each of them will be getting 3 to 4 pads each for two cycles.

“Presently, we are targeting about 138 girls during the verification, but they are more today because some of them missed school when we came for verification, so they will be about 150 girls today and we are equipping them with about 3 to 4 pads each for two cycles.

“We have an American trained Nurse that will lecture them on menstrual hygiene. For now we chose JSS 1 and JSS 2 students about 10-13 age bracket. Some of them have started menstruating and some who have not started menstruating will be sensitised in case they start so that they will not be scared on the first day.

Mbah Deborah Esohe a United States trained Nurse who lectured the girls on menstrual hygiene said often times girl child miss out on school activities during their menstrual cycle.

“We are here today to educate the girl child about the menstrual hygiene and its management. Often times it is what they know but we just want to sensitise them and give them alternative to the regular menstrual pad that is often used because most of these students stay out of school when they are menstruating, and we wouldn’t want that to continue.

“We want to educate them and give them an alternative to the regular pad that we also use, that is our mission for today”, she noted

The Principal, Government Junior Secondary School, Nyanya Gbagyi, Abdulkareem Silifat expressed delight over the project in the school.

“They came to sensitise the children. The day they said they are coming, I informed the children and the parents, they were all happy”, she said.

She said it is also important the training us extended to the boy child because according to her, if the girl child is well groomed and the bout child is not well groomed, the society is still not free.