April 2022
Hundreds of Reusable Sanitary Pads are Distributed
As part of our Let’s see Red Project, hundreds of reusable sanitary packs were given out to various communities and groups in The Gambia. Each pack contains 7 reusable sanitary pads. In The Gambia 1 in 10 girls miss school or drop out due to lack of sanitary products or sanitation facilities in schools and on average girls miss 48 days of school a year during their periods. In a typical poor Gambian family where there is not enough money to buy food, shelter and other basic needs sanitary products are not a priority. Many girls are forced to use paper, leaves or old bits of cloth. This situation increases the likelihood of teenage pregnancy, health complications, early marriage and limits a girl’s future career and economic opportunities.
By providing Gambian women with the education and resources they need to manage their periods in a safe, hygienic and dignified way we aim to help reverse the negative trend of girl’s education in The Gambia; tackling the gender disparity experienced by many girls and remove many of the taboos and stigmas around menstruation.
Thanks to everyone who has donated to this project and especially to Sandra and her team of sewers for the hundreds of sanitary packs they donated to us.
More information about the ‘Let’s See Red’ Project can be found in the projects section.
Repair Work Completed at St Peter’s Nursery School November 21 – April 22
Over the past few months repair work at St Peter’s Nursery school has been completed. During the rainy season last year tables were damaged due to a leaking roof and at the start of the dry season children were struggling to study in the extremely hot and dark classrooms. Since November 2021 we have shipped out new tables (donated by The Ridge Primary School, Stourbridge- thank you), replaced the leaking roof over the classrooms and toilet block, provided benches for the children to sit on (thank you Mount Pleasant Primary School Quarry Bank), replaced a dangerous school fence and put windows into each of the classrooms.
