Staff Reporter
THE Vodacom Lesotho Foundation this week delivered 1000 reusable menstrual towels to 10 schools in Mafeteng and Quthing in celebration of the International Day of the Girl Child.
The towels worth M250 000 were donated under the foundation’s Dignity Campaign, which aims to provide girls with reusable sanitary towels with a five-year life span.
Vodacom Lesotho yesterday the towels were a sustainable resource.
“The towels are a sustainable resource, which allows girls to wash and reuse them, rather than having to buy disposable sanitary towels every month,” Vodacom Lesotho said in a statement yesterday.
“In addition, they are inexpensive and environmentally friendly, with a social benefit that stands to greatly mitigate the disadvantages many disempowered girls endure during their process of maturing.”
Vodacom Lesotho executive head of legal, regulatory and external affairs, Tšepo Ntaopane, said the move was meant to ensure that girls do not have to skip school during their menstrual cycles.
“Through this campaign, we aim to ensure that girls have access to safe and hygienic-sanitary products, as well as raise awareness around women’s health.
“We look to help girls reclaim the dignity that poverty denies them; enable them to make a lasting and positive impact on the communities they live in and society as a whole.
“We believe that when girls and women have health and education it means our communities and the world are stronger.”
He added that Vodacom Lesotho was committed to addressing social ills that Basotho were going through.
“This initiative is cross-cutting; it ensures the dignity and health of our adolescents is preserved; it also ensures that we keep them in schools.
“It is also in line with our mandate to invest and support initiatives that are aimed at helping alleviate some of Lesotho’s most pressing social challenges.
“We support this through our focused social investment activities aimed at using ICT to improve access to education, address community health challenges, combat gender-based violence, and advance economic empowerment. We achieve this through partnerships with reputable organisations, government, industry leaders, and other technology partners,” Mr Ntaopane said.
Among others, the pads were donated to Bereng, Matsepe, Hope, Mafeteng, St. John’s Hermitage, Eagles Peak Qacha’s Nek and Mohlapiso high schools in Mafeteng and Quthing districts.
The Day of the Girl Child is a brainchild of the World Conference on Women. During the conference’s 1995 edition in Beijing, it was decided that 11 October annually be dedicated to the growth of girls around the world.
The day focuses on the rights, safety and education of girls. The core objective is to make girls an active part of the progress of the world.
This year, the day was celebrated under the theme: “Digital generation, our generation,” in acknowledgement of the growing digital world and how a digital gap can also widen the gender gap. The theme was focussed on bridging the digital divide.
