Our actions in Kenya

BeautyWaps for Girls' Education in Kenya

Since 2015, Déesse Padma has been present in Kenya with the “BeautyWaps for Girls' Education” project, whose mission is to distribute hygiene kits to poor schoolgirls so that they can go to school every day of the month.
The BeautyWaps team on site carries out distribution operations all year round, more than 2,000 young girls have already benefited from them.

Discover our action BeautyWaps for Girls' Education

Watch the video here: https://youtu.be/1SlQvtAk8Q0

Through its action, BeautyWaps is committed to enabling all girls to continue their education on an equal footing with boys. The free distribution of hygiene kits, with washable sanitary napkins, is one of the main measures to meet this global challenge.

Kit d'hygiène serviettes hygiéniques lavables

Thanks to washable towels, girls can continue their education

60% of Kenyan girls and women cannot afford sanitary pads. Thus, many schoolgirls stay at home during their periods and this quickly leads them to complete school dropout. This is why BeautyWaps has set up a subsidiary in Nairobi where washable and reusable sanitary napkins are produced. These towels are the basis of feminine hygiene kits – which also include a sex education booklet, two panties and soap – and which are distributed to poor schoolgirls. So girls can finally go to school every day of the month!

BeautyWaps creates reusable pads for school girls in Kenya

Each towel is cut and sewn by hand in Nairobi (Kenya) with local fabrics, without chemicals or perfume.

Girls missed school every month

Many girls in Kenya miss school during their period due to lack of sanitary protection. They improvise with scraps of cloth, often resulting in leaks that stain their clothes with blood. It happens then that the other school children persecute and humiliate them. “Boys could laugh. It bothered me so much that I would tie my sweater around my waist or go home." says a girl from Destiny School in Nairobi. Over time, girls fail exams and drop out of school. Most families don't talk to their daughters about sex, and a young girl who starts menstruating often finds herself alone and confused about the changes she's going through. Lack of information around reproductive health can also lead to early pregnancies. This is a major injustice.

Here is the link to a video describing this situation: https://youtu.be/7ph78t37kH4

The innovative concept of beautywaps keeps girls in school

BeautyWaps responds to these challenges by providing access to reusable sanitary napkins to these schoolgirls. This solution allows them to go to school every day of the month. A BeautyWaps kit contains 7 washable cotton towels that last more than 5 years. This is the time they need to finish 12 years of school. We also provide two panties to make sure the girls can actually wear the pads, and soap to wash them with. The kit also contains a sex education booklet. Racheal and Susan distribute the kits and teach the girls how to use the pads, then start a transparent discussion about sexual health, STDs, and teenage pregnancy, all of which are causes of school dropouts.

Watch the video here: https://youtube/L0bzsSBw-Qo

Girls are always so excited when we give them the BeautyWaps because they can use them again and again and they love their cute designs. They also say that the BeautyWaps do not cause irritation, unlike disposable pads. The quality of girls' education and their self-esteem has greatly improved: no more absenteeism, more sexual favors in exchange for towels, etc.
says Racheal

Environmental benefits

BeautyWaps targets schoolgirls from poor families, who often live in slums where municipal waste management is non-existent. In some slums, more than 100 people share a toilet, and access to it (especially when far away) can be dangerous at night. This leads to health problems and diseases such as cholera. In addition, since there is no waste collection system in these informal settlements, household waste (plastic bags, bottles, leftover food, etc.) piles up and is burned near the houses. BeautyWaps reusable towels avoid extra waste.



Job creation

The sanitary napkins are produced locally: Racheal and Susan cut and sew the pads in the BeautWaps workshop in Nairobi, Kenya. BeautyWaps creates local jobs for women and helps support entire families.

A big thank you

To those who have already contributed to providing BeautyWaps kits to more than 2000 schoolgirls!

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