OUR STORY
Background
A PACK A MONTH (APAM) is a registered CBO that aims at providing at least one pack of sanitary towels to needy girls as well as providing them with life-skills mentorship.
In addition, APAM seeks to avail empowerment opportunities through forums like educating the girls on menstrual health and sexuality, run anti-FGM campaigns, rescue GBV victims, carry out career development & mentorship programs; sports empowerment, workshops and exposure trips.
Our main mentorship pillars are geared towards the girls realizing their value hence SELF-WORTH, building their SELF-ESTEEM and aiding them live a life of SELF-RESPECT. Currently, APAM has a reach of 400 girls within the community and schools on a monthly basis with each session equipping them not only with mentorship but also A Pack of Pads each hence our name.
Current
Challenges
1. Financial constraints:
The funding of the project is dependent on friends and well-wishers who contribute voluntarily. At times it is difficult to meet the girls’ needs. The main costs include:
- Purchase of sanitary pads and painkillers.
- Logistics and transportation costs.
- Volunteers stipend & venue hiring.
- Miscellaneous costs (sometimes the girls have immediate needs like food, school fee, school uniforms or stationery). We currently have to purchase masks and sanitizers for the girls program.
2. Arising needs
from the girls’ like the need of undergarments(panties) to make the use of the pads easier for them.
3. Lack of life-skills
like sewing that would enable them repair their clothes and torn undergarments.
The current Covid-19 situation has WORSENED the situation owing to the economic impact ;
- Which has seen most of the well-wishers stop financing our operations.
- In addition the resulting closure of schools where the girls had access to at least a meal a day (lunch), has increased the need to provide food stuffs to the girls. This leaves APAM with the burden of providing food stuff alongside sanitary pads.
- Our venues have changed from school-halls to hired halls hence increasing the operational costs.
- Moreover, the Covid-19 measures announced by the Ministry of Health has made it challenging to meet the girls increasing the operational cost. We can only meet a few girls at a time.
- Due to the cessation of movement uncertainties’, APAM is forced to give more than the 1 month supply of pads thus increasing the monthly expenditure
