help us ensure the girls of justicia and huntington, south africa are able to stay in school

it all started when someone saw an injustice: girls in justicia and huntington, south africa were dropping out of school in staggering numbers. they didn't have access to menstrual hygiene products, and couldn't go to school during their cycle for fear of embarrassment. when kristine dong, an amateur photographer from new york city, saw this during a trip to south africa she contacted us at level. read her full account here. 

we want to help remedy this problem, by providing menstrual hygiene education and products for 500 young girls in these villages.

menstrual hygiene management is an issue found throughout the world, especially in underdeveloped and rural areas. many girls either miss class during their cycle or drop out of school altogether when they begin menstruating. menstrual health directly relates to social and economic development, and has significant impacts on women’s empowering social mobility.

michelle obama implored, “this issue must be addressed to enable young women to continue their education”.

it is important to understand that gender inequality will persist as long as females cannot attend school and be educated.

we are kicking off our campaign on february 1st and will be soliciting donations for 28 days, to match the average female’s cycle. in addition to raising money to provide feminine products to girls in these villages, we are also going to provide supplementary menstrual hygiene education. education is a critical aspect of this campaign in order for girls and boys to learn about puberty and and menstrual health. including boys in these classes will help us further our objective of eliminating the stigma around menstruation.

we are asking for women to donate the same amount of money that they spend on menstrual hygiene products per month, and for men to ask their sister, mom, girlfriend or cousin how much they spend and donate this amount. $10, $15 or $20 will go a long way to ensure the girls of justicia and huntington have access to menstrual hygiene products this year.

we are working with linky nkuna of the good work foundation to meet our campaign objectives. linky is from justicia village and is a mother of one. she is extremely passionate about education and youth in rural south africa, hence her work at good work foundation, where they are in a mission to revolutionize education by challenging, how we learn, what we learn and who has access to that learning, using the two main languages of access: english and digital.