A 12-year-old girl in Germany was so moved by the inspiring work of South African poverty activist Tamara Magwashu that she managed to organize a major charity donation.
Caity Cutter was moved to do something after she was shocked to learn from a BBC article about Ms Magwashu that 30% of girls in South Africa were out of school during their periods.
Ms Magwashu calls Caity’s efforts life-changing.
The story, published a year ago, was about how the now 28-year-old from South Africa’s Eastern Cape province helped girls who could not afford sanitary pads by distributing free sanitary pads to schools in rural, impoverished areas.
Growing up in a slum using rags as sanitary pads – and being bullied as a result – Ms Magwashu was determined to prevent other girls in her community from suffering the same fate.
She founded her own company to help girls in the country and beyond.
“I made a choice deep down that I didn’t want anyone to experience what I did,” Ms Magwashu told the BBC.
“My goal is to reach every girl in need so they can maintain their dignity. Denying a woman sanitary products is a violation of their human rights.”
For Caity, this determination was inspiring, but also an eye-opener.
“I felt very sad that girls my age didn’t have access to clean water, menstrual products and toilets,” she said.
Ms Magwashu had explained that her family in Duncan Village, a township near the city of East London, shared a public toilet with about 50 other people.
“I think it’s crazy that we live in a world where people can go to the moon, but others don’t have a toilet,” Caity said.
Her father, Michael Cutter, had been saving money from his job at a biopharmaceutical company for some time and planned to make a charitable donation.
His daughter convinced him that helping Mrs. Magwashu’s project was a worthwhile cause.
It was an overwhelming moment for the South African.
“They donated 500,000 sanitary pads to help girls from marginalized communities. Then, more donations went to us to buy a warehouse and hire staff to further distribute the sanitary towels,” she told the BBC.
It all went to Ms Magwashu’s non-profit organization, Azosule, whose charity arm provides free sanitary pads to schools in the poorest communities. It also sells more affordable, durable sanitary products.
Ms Magwashu has signed a deal with South African supermarket Makro to stock its sanitary towels in their stores across the country and in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
It is estimated that approximately seven million South African girls cannot afford to buy sanitary products.
South Africa is just one of many countries experiencing period poverty.
Period poverty affects at least 500 million women and girls worldwide, according to the World Bank, leaving them with little access to the facilities they need during their periods.
In August last year, the BBC led a pan-African investigation into its impact across the continent. It showed that women in Ghana with a minimum wage spend one in every seven dollars they earn on sanitary towels.
But it’s not just about the cost and availability of the pads themselves.
Poverty research organization J-Pal Africa examined the impact on girls’ education in Madagascar, looking at the lack of knowledge about hygiene practices.
2,250 schoolgirls participated in the study, spread over 140 primary and secondary schools.
One conclusion was that after building proper laundry facilities, offering teacher training and vouchers for free sanitary pads, students’ general academic skills, memory and attention improved.
In addition, girls were 17% more likely to progress to the next grade.
Through her interactions with Ms Magwashu, Caity says she also came to understand that providing finance for heritage products was “only part of the solution”.
Ms Magwashu also sends teams to schools to educate both girls and boys about menstrual hygiene.
Azosule has been a labor of love for Ms. Magwashu, a public relations graduate. She saved money from part-time jobs and her student loans to launch it in 2021.
She originally did this through so-called ‘pad drives’ – where you load a vehicle and travel to poor areas to distribute sanitary products.
But now she can do more with a bigger team.
“With this [donation] We can help more schools and are talking to schools in Congo-Brazzaville, where many girls have never seen sanitary towels,” Ms Magwashu told the BBC.
She hopes that one day this will cover the entire continent.
Reflecting on the donation from Germany, Ms Magwashu added: “For once I felt seen and heard, because we are talking about someone who comes from a privileged position and does not have to go through period poverty.
“When I say she completely changed my life, she really did.
“Caity will always be a hero of mine. She not only made a difference in my life, but in the lives of thousands of girls so they don’t have to go through what I went through.”
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