National University of Science and Technology (NUST) students have launched a campaign to provide sanitary products to female prison inmates and underprivileged girls in Bulawayo.
The students who are part of the Leo International Charity Organisation club said the Pad Drive Campaign was inspired by a need to provide comfort to less privileged members of the community.
In an interview with CITE, Leo Club of NUST Secretary Tinotenda Mabambe said their main aim is to provide service to those in need.
“We are here to help those in need and making their lives better in ways we can do that best,” said Mabambe.
She added that according to research 70% of girls in rural schools and some urban areas have no access to sanitary pads in Zimbabwe.
“Girls struggle with sanitary wear with some going to the extremes of using cow dung and tree leaves to aid in the proper disposal of their menstrual periods while some girls do not go to school during their periods losing up to 18% of their schooling,” said Mabambe.
The Pad Drive Campaign seeks to tackle this situation head-on and the club is in the process of raising funds for the campaign.
“This campaign will make it a mandate to source, acquire and distribute sanitary pads to the suffering girl child,” said Mabambe.
The Leo Club of NUST projects director Tatenda Mubvakure said this campaign will run for one year.
“This is a one year campaign in partnership with Rotaract club at NUST and we shall be collecting pads from campus,” said Mubvakure
He added that they are working on engaging supermarkets like TM PicknPay, Spar and OK as drop of points for the campaign.
“We are working on drafting letters to supermarkets so that they will allow us to have drop off points in their supermarkets for anyone who wants to donate because we are not limiting this just to students,” said Mubvakure.
Donations can be sent either in the form of sanitary products and cash.
