Students and Staff at Burnside have raised over £800 in 3 months to fund a project by I – Care (Afri-can foundation) to provide re-usable sanitary pads. Girls in Gorgor school can miss 3-5 days of school every month totalling over 40 days annually as a result of lack of financial resources to afford the cost of sanitary towels. Most of these girls use unhygienic clothing materials to keep dry during their menses, a situation that on many occasions causes embarrassment as the materials are leaky. This issue is inhibiting the academic potential of the girls at Gorgor. So Mrs Ellis and her Year 11 Health and Social Care class researched possible options – linking with a charity ( Afric – can foundation) in Amsterdam and for less than £3.50 we could buy a re-usable sanitary pack which will last ONE YEAR for ONE girl.
The Year 11 Health and Social care students presented the story to staff and students in school in December 2014 and by February 2015 had raised over 50% of the funds needed. With a generous personal donation from a member of the community we were able to fund the project and on February 13th 2015 Gladys, Nikkita and Willy from I-Care arrived at Gorgor school (along with 3 member of the BBG-Building futures board – Julie Thompson, Marie Rooney and Rosalind Elliott)and issued out pads along with a 2 hours Health education programme to both boys and girls at the school. For find out more about the important work of I-Care go to: www.icarepads.com
