Inspiring Futures for Ugandan Girls

[Chris Elias28]

Inspiring Futures of Ugandan Girls

Join Mothering.com and Lunapads in supporting Shanti Uganda!

This holiday season, Mothering and Lunapads will partner to support Shanti Uganda’s At Risk Girls Program. Together, Mothering and Lunapads aim to inspire social change by providing a healthier future for teen girls in Uganda. 

Pads4Girls was founded in 2000 by Lunapads co-founders, Suzanne Siemens and Madeleine Shaw, who are dedicated to creating more positive and informed relationships between women, their bodies, and the Earth via their environmentally friendly line of reusable feminine hygiene products. Lack of feminine hygiene supplies directly impacts the health and futures of thousands of girls and women in developing nations, who are forced to miss school or work each month because of what is perceived to be an embarrassing women’s affliction—their regular menstrual cycle.

This all too often overlooked women’s health issue creates a devastating domino effect, starting with school absenteeism and dropout, leading to early marriage and childbearing and their resulting risk of maternal mortality, as well as diminished income earning opportunities. Compelled to improve the lives of women and girls, Lunapads founded Pads4Girls to partner with customers and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to combat these challenges and pave the road to a brighter future for these young women.

Pads4Girls supplies Kits comprised of washable pads and panties to girls in need that can be reused for years without burdening the local waste stream. Through the program, Lunapads has provided Kits to over 2,000 girls across Africa and Central America, including their largest-ever shipment of 200 Kits to the Dominican Republic in March 2011. Inspired by this story, Mothering approached Lunapads, a long-term Mothering supporter and friend, with the intent of galvanizing the Mothering community to support Lunapads’ latest campaign: Shanti Uganda’s At Risk Girls Program, a health and wellness program focused on inspiring futures for teen mothers and out of school girls in Kasana Town Uganda

 

What are the goals in supporting Shanti Uganda?

Shanti Uganda is a Vancouver-based charity that improves infant and maternal health, provides safe women-centered care and supports the well-being of birthing mothers and women living with HIV/AIDS in Uganda.  As part of the workshop, each girl will also receive AFRIpads (Ugandan-made cloth pads based on Lunapads) and a health education manual.

In addition to supporting Shanti Uganda, in January 2012, Madeleine and Suzanne will be participating in Shanti Uganda’s 2012 Yoga & Seva Journey and will be travelling to Uganda to visit the Birth House. As participants on the trip, Madeleine and Suzanne have also been asked to share their business knowledge with the Shanti Uganda Women’s Income Generating Group, comprised of local women artisans, as part of their time in the community.

Mothering will support this fundraiser from December 1st, 2011  through January 12, 2012.

Here's How You Can Help: 

For $15, you can provide a girl in need with life-changing products and lasting education. 

1) Give Support, Get Lunapads: Mothering members and their friends can use a promotional code (P4GUganda) and receive 10% off their order. Lunapads will also donate 10% from each sale towards financing washable pad kits and education for 300 girls.

2) Donate Directly, Get a Gift: For Mothering community members wishing to make a cash donation without purchasing products, donations in increments of $15 can be made directly via Lunapads ($15 is the cost of providing a workshop and pad kit for one girl.) Members who donate more than $30 (benefits 2 girls) will receive a bracelet handcrafted by women artisans in Kasana Town. Donations over $60 (benefits 4 girls) will receive a necklace made by the same group.

We need your help in reaching the goal of raising $4,500 to support Shanti Uganda programs.  As part of our commitment to this cause, we will update you regularly on our progress. We invite you, your family, and friends to join us in our effort to inspire social change through this sustainable health program. 

Furthermore, we are excited to announce that Suzanne and Madeleine will share their experience in Uganda with us! Look forward to their personal stories about this transformative journey with Shanti Uganda as they visit the Shanti Uganda Birth House.  

Thank You and Happy Holidays!

We give a special thanks to our friends who have joined us in this program.  We could not make this holiday miracle happen without you!  

Thanks Boba Family and Earth Mama Angel Baby.

Featured Sponsors of Pads4Girls Uganda 2012:

  

[lunagal]

Chris and the Mothering team: thank you so much for collaborating with us on this very exciting journey.

If anyone has any questions about Pads4Girls, the trip, the AfriPads kIts or Shanti Uganda, I'd be happy to answer them.

This will be my first trip to Uganda (and Africa for that matter!) so if any one has any tips to share, I'd welcome them.

Warmly,

Suzanne

[writinglove]

Hi Suzanne,

Do the girls and women in the regions of Uganda who will be receiving these pads have access to the clean water they will need to reuse these pads?

Thanks!

Edited by writinglove - 2/9/12 at 3:56pm

[UgandaMama]

Many thanks to Lunapads and Mothering for supporting Shanti Uganda's Teen Mothers and Teen Outreach programs! We're thrilled at the opportunity to expand our existing Teen Girls Program to reach additional girls in the region! For information about our Teen Girls Program, please check out our website. 

We're so excited that Madeleine and Suzanne will be joining us on the Shanti Uganda 2012 Yoga & Seva Journey to visit the Birth House and see first hand the work Shanti Uganda does in Uganda. There are still a few spots open for anyone wanting to join us!  

Kay, great to hear from you! Yes - the girls we work with do have access to water to reuse the pads we distribute as a part of our workshops. We also use biosand filters at the Birth House to provide clean drinking water. 

Happy to answer any questions about Shanti Uganda - send me an email [e-mail] 

blessings, 

Natalie

[LunaDiva]

Hi everyone! Thank you so much to the Mothering.com team as well as all the community members and colleagues who have supported us so far with your donations, questions and good wishes. It's an incredible undertaking. I'm looking for ideas from traveling Moms for ideas about being away from my 6 yo dd for slightly over 2 weeks. I have explained to her why we are going and she is proud - and yet dreading being apart for so long (the longest to date has been 10 days). I love Little Jots http://www.littlejots.com/ and am looking for other ideas - books, video or other tips for simply letting go and yet being emotionally supportive around the separation. Thank you!!

[OrganicEcoBaby]

Hi LunaDiva.  Being a Military wife and a person who has t travel to the UK twice a year for nearly a month at a time I may be able to help.  When my husband deployed the first time round we went to build a bear and he left a night time message on the recording device and we gave him a turtle.  So he could hear his voice every night just as if he was there and the distance didn't seem that far, Alex was 4 years old at this time.  To be honest I think we miss the kids more than they miss us, they do not have the concept of missing really.  She with cry terribly when you leave and as soon as then next best exciting thing comes up she will have forgotten all about you being gone, I think we parents make more of it then we do and we miss them more really.  My son is away from me when we are in the UK as he stays with his dad for at least 2 weeks and he never misses me until he sees me again, if that makes sense, its me who sits here missing him like crazy.  He is 7 now.  He was the 4 year old giving me comfort when my husband deployed the first time round, I sobbed for two days he came to me and said, "its ok mommy everything will be ok".  Coming from Africa myself I will tell you to be safe.  But the bear worked very well for him.  Good Luck

[LunaPads]

Thanks to Mothering community members, so far we have raised enough to send 71 girls to Shanti Uganda's health and wellness workshops. We're almost a third of the way there! A thousand thank-yous to everyone who has donated so far. Let's keep spreading the word and help secure a better future for these young women!

[lunagal]

Thanks everyone. The fundraising tally is now grown to support for 123 girls, thanks to a recent donation from our friends at Red Tent Sisters!

Edited by lunagal - 1/4/12 at 4:54pm

[lunagal]

Great news everyone! Thanks to your generous support, we have been able to collectively raise enough funds to support the possibility for up to 350 girls to participate in Shanti Uganda's At Risk Girls program. Girls will change the world!

[Breastisbest2008]

Wow what a neat program.