In celebration of the International Day of the Girl Child, Recycledge and Advocacy for Adolescent and Youth Health Initiative (AFAYHealth) has called for environmental sustainability and an end to period poverty.
The International Day of the Girl Child is celebrated annually on October 11. This year, the theme of the celebration is ‘Invest in Girls’ Rights: Our Leadership, Our Well-being.’
During an advocacy visit on Wednesday to St. Louis Girls’ Grammar School (Junior) in Mokola, Ibadan, tagged ‘PET for Pad,’ the groups stressed that during this period, poverty deprives girls of valuable time in school.
During the visit, the students were encouraged to pick up plastic bottles from their school environment in exchange for sanitary pads. This initiative, the groups said, was aimed at inculcating a culture of environmental care in the students.
Victor Oyejide, the co-founder of Recycledge, said the programme ensures the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals such as environmental care, quality education, and health through optimal menstrual hygiene.
Oyejide said, “The ‘PET for Pad’ is a programme whereby we preach the gospel of environmental sanitation and menstrual hygiene.
Students bring PET bottles in exchange for pads. With that, we are instilling in them the right culture of keeping their environment clean, as they brought volumes of bottles.
From what they brought, we have collected about 158kg of PET bottles from the school environment and their homes.
We will continue to do this as much as we can to promote the cleanliness of the environment and the well-being of the girl child.
“We understand that a lot of girls face challenges in academics when they are menstruating and do not have the right products to take care of themselves; some of them miss classes.
We want to ensure quality education, which is one of the Sustainable Development Goals. We came to give them these pads to help end period poverty.
Most of them do not have the resources, and looking at the economic situation of the country, students save money meant for feeding to buy pads.”
Halimat Olaniyan, founder of AFAYHealth, called for the destigmatisation of periods and expressed optimism about sustaining and expanding the programme to underserved communities.
Olaniyan said, “We are thinking about the sustainability of this programme to see if we can partner with other schools and encourage students to clean up their environment and work towards sustainable living.
“We also did this to advocate ending period poverty. Sanitary pads are becoming expensive, and for a student coming from a low-income background who cannot afford them, it becomes a significant issue.
We are looking forward to more impact not only in public secondary schools but also in community-based adolescents and out-of-school children, who otherwise do not have access to this hygienic means of taking care of themselves during their menstrual period and to destigmatize periods because periods are not shameful; they should be discussed openly.”
The Vice Principal of Administration at St. Louis Girls’ Grammar School (Junior), Mrs Olaitan Ojekunle, who spoke on behalf of the school’s principal, Mrs Olutoyin Akindele, said the programme is beneficial to the students as it instils environmental care and personal hygiene in them.
Mrs Ojekunle said, “These organisations came to sensitise our children about their well-being and health during menstruation. This is of great benefit to our students.
They were also sensitised not to litter their environment but to take care of it. We now have the slogan, ‘Pick up the trash.’ They were also taught to remind their peers not to litter the environment.”
Some of the students, including Mary Oyetunji and Agnes Sunday, the school’s head girl and assistant head girl, respectively, appreciated the groups’ visit and promised to adhere to the lessons from the programme.
“I am very grateful to these people who came to our school to sensitise us about being neat as a girl child. We were taught how to maintain cleanliness during our menstrual period and how to be a leader as girls.
“We were also taught not to litter our environment, although some students tend to do so. I think this programme has helped to change their behaviour,” Oyetunji said.
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