A non-governmental organization (NGO) called HEY SISSY, established to empower women for excellence through effective coaching and mentorship, donated cartons of sanitary pads to women and girls at the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps in Durumi, Abuja, on Saturday to promote menstrual hygiene among the female inhabitants of the camp.
The lead coach and founder of HEY SISSY, Taiye Adesewa Oyinloye, in an interview with Tribune Online, said the project, tagged “Pad a Girl, Save a Future,” is centered on menstrual hygiene sensitization and cleanliness, stating that menstruation is a natural occurrence a girl is expected to pass through when she attains a certain age and not dirty, as some are made to believe.
Apart from donating the pads, Oyinloye explained to the over 200 women and girls in attendance about pre and post-menstrual signs and how to manage them without having any infections, using clean water, and disposing of the pad appropriately.
Oyinloye, who is a serving corps member in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, said the presentation of the sanitary pads is not part of the usual community development projects of the NYSC but her own way of contributing to the education of the girl-child and the promotion of menstrual hygiene among young women.
She solicited more support from corporate organizations and well-meaning Nigerians to assist her organization in reaching out to the vulnerable across Nigeria.
“I am Taye Adesewa Oyinloye. I am the lead coach and founder of HEY SISSY. What we do at HEY SISSY is to coach women, ladies, and young girls to become the best version of themselves.
And we are here at the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps at Durumi, Abuja, to do menstrual hygiene sensitization and also to donate sanitary pads to girls. We donated 320 pads.
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“I feel very happy and fulfilled doing this in Abuja for the first time. We did the first part of this in Kwara State, where we donated 208 sanitary pads to some school girls at Government Day Junior Secondary School, DaniAlu in Ilorin. The second part of the project is what held today.
“With more funding, we are looking forward to taking it down south and across the six geopolitical zones of the country. However, I want to appeal to corporate organizations, rich individuals, and well-meaning Nigerians to lend helping hands because it involves a lot of money. I’m passionate about anything that concerns the women folks and I will continue to put smiles on their faces, God willing. We want to reach a wider audience and more people as well.
“I came here early in January with some of my colleagues for lead assessment. We have a goal at HEY SISSY which is about community development project. And because we are focusing on women, we met with the Women Leader at the camp and we got to know that they are in need of sanitary pads.
We also discovered that some of these girls engage in transactional sex just to be able to access sanitary pads. This affects the teenage girls who are unable to afford pads. The young guys deceive them that they will give them money to buy pads and in the process of sleeping with them, they get pregnant.
“That was what prompted me to do fundraising to buy pads and come and donate here. We have spent about N500,000 on this project for the one in Kwara and the one here today. As you can see, we not only gave them pads but also talked to them about how to manage their menstrual period without having any infections, using clean water, and disposing of the pad appropriately,” she told Tribune Online.
The coordinator, spokesman, and health project supervisor of FCT IDPs camps, Idriss Ibrahim Halilu, while thanking Oyinloye and her team for their kind gesture, called on other organizations to emulate HEY SISSY’s feat.
“I’m excited today that HEY SISSY has reached out to Durumi IDPs camps and targeted the teenagers and the women folks as far as menstrual hygiene is concerned. I want people out there to borrow a leaf from HEY SISSY and reach out to our camps. We are vulnerable people; we are here on our own. No father, no uncle, you are our daddy. Reach out to assist,” he said.
The women leader, Liatu Ayuba, from Borno, Mary Nuhu, 18, and Deborah, 13, showered prayers on HEY SISSY for coming to their aid.