In a bid to achieve the sustainable Development goal (SDGs) of no one is left behind, Malengo Foundation through their Girl 50-50 project has kick started a campaign to promote menstrual hygiene among disabled girls and women of school going age.
Michelle Omamteker the Founder, Malengo Foundation indicated that most of the menstrual hygiene projects don’t take into account many of the challenges of girls with disabilities and added that, even when there is a campaign drive, girls with disabilities are still left behind.
“Our focus is to ensure that every girl with a disability of school going age never has to worry about sanitary towels and shouldn’t be ostracized from school because of menstrual hygiene. We (Malengo foundation) have partnered with Modesta Foundation (an NGO advocating for the rights of Persons With Disabilities) to kick start a campaign to donate free sanitary towels to all girls with disabilities of school going age and we have started with Entebbe but we are going to go to different municipalities to map out girls with disabilities to ensure that we support them in their Education and one of the focal points being menstrual health. “, explained Michelle Omamteker.
“We have also discovered that there are disabled girls who cannot hold their urine and feaces and unfortunately, many of the hygiene drives aren’t helping them. Such girls need diapers throughout the year because they cannot go to school because of hygiene related issues. The sanitary pads are made by an association of single mothers whom we pay to supply us with the sanitary pads and one sanitary pad can be used for three months and three pads can be used for a whole year if they are regularly washed and alternated”, added Michelle Omamteker.
Michelle Omamteker donated sanitary pads to disabled school girls from Entebbe Comprehensive S.S, Kiwafu Primary School, Chang sha Primary school, Noah’s Ark school for disabled children, Chadwick Namate and Entebbe Children’s Welfare School.
About Malengo Foundation.
Malengo Foundation is a youth inspired and youth-led organization set up to propagate the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, popularly known as The Global Goals, along with their 169 targets to all youth across the African continent. Malengo Foundation also serves as a bridging ground with youth living in the diaspora who are enthusiasts about Africa’s progression and development by aligning these developments with the 2030 Global Agenda to transform our world.
