Sanitary pad drive to help schoolgirls

A teenage girl from Bellville and a Durbanville woman are united in a common goal to raise enough money by the end of the month to provide sanitary pads to 360 girls from three schools in Elsies River and Leonsdale.

Lané Louw, 16, and Laura Hoffman, 26, hope to give two re-usable pads to each of the girls at Elnor and Elswood primary schools and Elswood Secondary School.

“Being a teenage girl myself, I felt the need to support these girls,” said Lané. “The thought of anyone having to go through the already horrible feeling of being on your period and then not even having the access to sanitary products horrified me. I then decided to reach out to one of the youth leaders at Tygerberg Seventh-day Adventist Church, Laura, to be my right hand in this initiative, the Streetwise project.”

After establishing their cause in mid-July, the pair partnered with Tygerberg Meals on Wheels, a non profit organisation, as well as their church.

“Lané contacted me and asked if we could contact community leaders who helped us identify these schools. We would like to give every girl in those schools, who use pads, a paired pad and underwear to make them feel safe to walk in public and not worry about what could happen,” said Anne-Marie Watt, from Tygerberg Meals on Wheels.

Ms Hoffman said she jumped at the chance to get involved with the project when Lané approached her.

“I know how expensive sanitary products are, and I imagined how hard it must be for girls who can’t afford to buy sanitary products every month. I was also very inspired by the fact that Lané’s only 16 and had this great vision of helping others.”

Lané said: “Together we aspire to provide as many teenage girls with re-useable pads as possible. We are also using, Project Dignity, an organisation that supports girls all over South Africa, to source the re-useable pads. These pads will last each girl between three to five years.”

They are hoping to raise R29 300 to cover the pads, underwear and shipping.

The schools did not respond to questions by time of publication.

For more information or to make a donation contact Lane Louw at lanelouw05@gmail.com and visit the website, www.streetwise.africa.