Hey gang, as most of you know, I was the team leader for a volunteering project in Tanzania last year. I'm now raising money for the MemaTz charity that some of my old volunteers set up. They're doing fantastic work already with the funds raised from dearest Tom's walkathon, and mine, Katie and Helen's three peaks challenge but there's still more to be done. A history lesson though:
Last year whilst doing a Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WaSH) project in the Morogoro region of Tanzania, a number of my team were highly impacted by one of our initiatives to provide feminine hygiene lessons and facilities to rural schools. Whilst there for our three month stint, we dispelled rumours about these natural processes and taught young girls from school years 5 to 6 about the changes going on in their bodies, and alongside our main project building large toilet blocks, built a menstrual hygiene room where girls can go during the school day to change pads and attend to their needs. Whilst doing this, my team learnt about the lack of understanding, facilities and education on the matter. Menstruation is not a thing taught in schools, discussed in the family, and is generally quite the taboo. Many girls when they start their flow may have no understanding of what is happening and feel like they are sick or dying. They lack proper access to sanitary products and places to change during the day, causing many to miss school, and ultimately, many of them to drop out entirely. Misinformation rages rampant, one of many common misconceptions being that the touch of a woman on her period will cause plants to instantly wither and die. It's a pretty daft situation for half of the population to routinely have to go through, and during our only three months there, we were only able to do so much.
Thus far Saidi Izina, Janeth Hipolite, Hassan Kiyungi, Thomas Hilbourne and Helen White have kept it up the fundraising and actual delivery with aplomb. I'm now going to suffer through a marathon on October 7th to try help out. Give money.