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The only thing more exciting than the initial announcement of Apple’s iPad was that it was named the iPad. For millions of snarky internet users, it was the best field day since Balloon Boy.
The parallel was an easy one, maybe too easy, likening the iPad to feminine hygiene products. But let’s be honest, sometimes we’re all a little juvenile on Twitter. Thus from Apple’s next great achievement begat the #iTampon trend. And it was good.
Good because we all chuckled. Better because it helped raise awareness about a real “pad problem”. (Rimshot!)
In Uganda, only 38% of girls entering Primary 1 (the equivalent of kindergarten) will graduate. Why? Girls drop out of school when they hit puberty. 1 in 10 menstruating girls will skip four or five days of school each month, or drop out completely, because of “inconveniences” during their periods. One girl explains:
“I only have one pair of knickers, and I have to walk to school when I have my menstrual period. I do not have pads at home and by the time I get to school, my knickers are spoiled and then I have nothing to wear with my pad.”
I can’t relate.
I go to the drug store and there’s an entire aisle dedicated to the multi-billion dollar feminine hygiene industry. Scented, unscented. Heavy, lite. Wings, wingless. Extra smooth applicator. Crinkle-free wrappers. Tampon 2.0. Sanitary Pad: The Next Generation. The Panty Liner Strikes Back.
For that matter, I can go to Victoria’s Secret to find bikinis, boy shorts, briefs, thongs, v-strings, no lines, cotton, lace, prints or solids. It’s the Starbucks of underwear. And they’re probably on sale, 5 for $25.
These luxuries aren’t available in Uganda. So the Kasiisi Project, based out of Cambridge, Massachusetts, is working to end the marginalization and shame of young women by making sure they have sanitary supplies, private latrines, and accurate information about their health and bodies.
Girls are pressured by boys who tell them they can’t get pregnant when they have their period, or that if they don’t “play sex” by the time they’re 17, they will never be able to have children. Consequently, 30% of Ugandan girls 18 and under have become mothers. And 50% of young women, ages 15-19, had never formally learned about sex before their first sexual encounter. Sex education is as crucial to young women in Uganda as it is in the US.
The Kasiisi Project trains peer educators to teach their classmates about STDs and teen-pregnancy. Kasiisi donates MakaPads, eco-friendly (made from papyrus and recycled paper) and locally-made pads that are much less expensive than imported pads. They are also building girl-friendly latrines with washing facilities and incinerators to allow the girls privacy and sanitation.
Initial results show a 30% drop in absenteeism from school and an increase in academic scores for young women receiving these supplies and education.
In January, as @GlobalGiving, I took advantage of the #iTampon snark to highlight this very real, but preventable issue. It struck a chord with a lot of women, and from just a couple tweets and a Facebook post, over $1,600 was raised on GlobalGiving for Kasiisi.
On Saturday, when the iPad is released, it will be easy to be flippant and make jokes again, but to some young women, tampons mean a better future.
If you want to support the Kasiisi Project, check out their project on GlobalGiving.
Alison McQuade is the Online Marketing Manager at GlobalGiving. She can be found on Twitter, tweeting happily about nonprofits, passionately about politics, excitedly about U2, wistfully about her dream of an improv career and - fair warning - obsessively about the Red Sox.
