How is it summer already? We don't know if it is just us, but this year seems to be flying by and we'd love to take a moment to share with you some of the highlights of the past 6 months.
This year the team were able to design tshirts that they can wear when running community trainings. The quote on the back says, "How much better to get wisdom than gold, and understanding than silver" Proverbs 16:16. It's so lovely to see the team enjoying their new look and to hear how it helps them look more professional when running trainings.
Excitingly, the team has now trained just under 1800 men and women in menstrual health and how to make sanitary pads. It has been so encouraging to have the trainings so enthusiastically received in communities amongst young women, mature men and women, health workers, teachers, local leaders amongst others. We've been able to start reaching more remote areas this year, who are not visited by as many NGOs, and so it's great to know we are able to reach more of those who would find this training the most beneficial.
Since training over 127 different teachers, from 9 different schools, Ketty, our schools worker, has begun conducting follow up visits. This has meant that she has been able to visit the teachers around 4-6 months after the initial training to ask what has been going well, what some of the challenges have been and how many times they have run the trainings since we left them.
Whilst access to materials that can be used to make pads, has continued to be difficult as not all have spare sheets or clothes that they can use for the sewing, we have been very encouraged by all the positive feedback.The majority of teachers have been reporting that they have noticed a reduction in the absences of girls from schools since the training, with one even mentioning that they have not noticed any girls missing school because of lack of sanitary wear. We are so thrilled to hear this, and to also hear how in one school male pupils have also been learning so that they can help their sisters, and that the girls have also been sharing this knowledge with their friends in other schools!
Sadly we have come to the realisation, that we will be unable to sell the period underwear in communities due to regulation laws in Uganda that require any menstrual health products which are being sold to be specially tested. This would be a very expensive and long winded process, and coupled with not being able to source necessary fabrics within Uganda, we have made the hard decision to not pursue this avenue. We currently have supplies to make 257 new pairs and we are excited that this means that we can give well over 300 pairs to those in our communities. We would value your prayers for wisdom in how we give these pairs of period underwear out, and that those who are most at need would receive them.
We are so happy that two more groups have finished the women's health 9 week training course, and we have begun another two groups. These groups are also in more remote locations, and they are so thankful for the input that the team has been giving and they have been responding well to the trainings. We love hearing how these sessions have been empowering individuals with new knowledge as well as changing people's perceptions and understandings around family dynamics and reproductive health!
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