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Reaching out to the less fortunate, the Leave No Girl Behind International (LNGBI) Girl’s Power Circle of St Dominics Newcastle recently collected sanitary pads for girls in need. An initiative forming part of their first term’s community service project.
Haseena and Shameema Patel, the co-founders of the organisation, explain that the St Dominics Newcastle girls had heard about many girls in the area who are forced to either skip school or use creative and sometimes dangerous solutions when menstruating.
For this reason, the girls created a drive at their school, managing to collect 40 packs of pads
Danielle Paulsen, Leave No Girl Behind International Ambassador for 2021, and one of the Power Circle grade heads leading the project, explains, “We really just wanted to make a difference in the lives of girls.”
The other Power Circle grade head responsible for driving the project, Sipesihle Ndlovu, said, “No girl should have to go through the difficulty of not having sanitary pads and the impact that it has on their lives.”
The pads were handed over to Bongi Khumalo and two Amazulu High School students in Section 6, Madadeni. “We do not receive sanitary pads from the Department of Education, and I do not understand why—most of our learners are from areas where the rate of unemployment is extremely high, while others are from child-headed families,” states Khumalo.
Slindokuhle Mchunu, one of the students of Amazulu High School, said they had found a girl trying to use newspaper to make up for the lack of sanitary pads. Slindokuhle Hadebe, another student representing her school, said that they felt blessed and this donation was going to make a big difference in the lives of the girls in their school.
Anyone who would like to support this project and donate sanitary pads to the Leave No Girl Behind Int. Girl’s Power Circle of St Dominics Newcastle can contact co-founder of Leave No Girl Behind International, Shameema Patel, at 072 271 4040.
“Every woman reading this knows what having easy access to sanitary pads means. Together we as a community, have the opportunity to bring massive change to the lives of girls right here in our community,” Shameema concludes.
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