GEORGE NEWS - It works like a slot machine. You use a coupon, press it into the opening, and voila! A packet of sanitary pads at your disposal. Pacaltsdorp High School is the first school in the Southern Cape to have its own dispensing machine for sanitary products.
The nearest schools with such nifty devices are in Swellendam and Gqeberha, with a total of 173 countrywide, as an initiative of the MENstruation Foundation.
The installation of the dispensing machine at Pacaltsdorp High on Tuesday 1 October was made possible with the help of Icon Construction, a company involved with four civil construction projects in George.
They are sponsoring sanitary pads for about 420 learners at this school for the next 24 months as one of their corporate social investment projects.
The learners will receive a token each month to use and have access to free sanitary products from the vending machine. "If you're on a heavy cycle, you ask for another token," said CEO of the MENstruation Foundation Marius Basson.
About the pads
The pads are produced in South Africa and are biodegradable. Typically, the vending machines are placed at schools, education institutes, community centres and in sports training centres. The one at Pacaltsdorp High is in one of the girls' ablution blocks.
"Say period!" A chirpy Marius Basson (back middle), CEO of the MENstruation Foundation, cheers the crowd on for a fun photo at Pacaltsdorp High. With him are the principal, Clifton Titus (second from right), deputy principal Veronica Williams (left), teacher Carol-Ann Kaboni (front left) and learners (back row) Lee-Maine Jonck, Ronica Makhasie, Nashley Hanse and (in front) Lleweldine Maart, Klimechia Scheepers and Rethabile Vaas. Photo: Michelle Pienaar
According to Basson, 22 million women in the country are on a menstrual cycle, of whom eight million can't afford sanitary pads. "From that eight million, four million are school-going learners and students in tertiary education institutions," he said.
"We want to keep girls in school. Don't wait until your period starts, make sure you have a pack of pads with you. You never know - your period can start at home, and then you need them. Don't wait until you feel vulnerable."
Policy change
Basson said if men were to have a menstrual cycle every month, pads would have been for free. "There is a reason why the word 'men' is in menstruation; and the word 'man' in humanity. As the father of a daughter, I felt a dire need to do something for the girl child. If someone asks me where I see the foundation heading in five years' time, I say, 'I hope that we are gone.' Because that would mean that we solved menstrual poverty.
"This is our mission. We need to take the stigma out of menstruation, raise awareness and advocate for policy change." For more information, contact Basson on 083 651 8430.
Did you know? With free sanitary products, teenage girls on average improve their school attendance by five days per month. That's 40 days a year (more than a month per child).
Rod Torry (left), contracts manager at Icon Construction, school principal Clifton Titus and Charlene Inggs, financial manager at Icon. Photo: Michelle Pienaar
‘We bring you the latest Garden Route, Hessequa, Karoo news’
