Empowering young girls with sustainable solutions is at the heart of what we do. On the 1st day of July, 2026, the Evergreen Foundation teamed up with the incredible Bold Her Foundation for a hands-on, high-impact outreach at Bishops East Primary School in Mukono district, where we focused on a vital yet often overlooked aspect of a girl’s education: menstrual health and hygiene.
Through this partnership, we equipped students with the practical skills to make their own reusable sanitary pads, breaking down barriers to education and promoting self-reliance.
Here is a recap of an inspiring day filled with learning, laughter, and empowerment!
The Challenge: Why Reusable Pads Matter?
For many young girls, access to safe and affordable menstrual products remains a significant challenge. A lack of sanitary pads often leads to missed school days, low confidence, and compromised hygiene.
By introducing reusable sanitary pads, we provided a solution that is:
Cost-Effective: Eliminates the monthly financial burden of disposable pads.
Eco-Friendly: Reduces plastic waste, aligning perfectly with our environmental preservation values.
Sustainable: Crafted from locally available materials, ensuring the girls can replicate the process independently.
Step-by-Step: Skilling the Next Generation
The energy at Bishops East Primary School was electric. The students were eager to learn, and our team, alongside Bold Her Foundation, took them through the entire creation process:
- Material Selection: Teaching the girls how to choose clean, absorbent, and skin-friendly cotton fabrics.
- Cutting & Pattern Mapping: Guiding them through tracing patterns to ensure a comfortable and secure fit.
- Stitching & Assembly: Hands-on training in layering the fabrics for maximum absorption and stitching the edges together.
- Care & Maintenance: A crucial session on how to properly wash, sun-dry, and hygienically store the pads to ensure they last for months.
It was more than Just Skilling: A Safe Space for Dialogue
Beyond the fabric and thread, this outreach created a safe space for the students to ask questions about puberty, reproductive health, and body confidence. We held open discussions to shatter the stigmas and myths surrounding menstruation, reminding every girl in the room that periods are a normal, healthy part of life and should never stand in the way of their dreams.
Seeing the proud smiles on the faces of the students as they held up pads they had made with their own hands was a beautiful reminder of why this work matters.
Thank you to the administration of Bishops East Primary School for welcoming us, and to our partners at Bold Her Foundation for their shared vision and dedication to uplifting young women.
Together, we are not just keeping girls in school; we are restoring dignity and fostering a more equitable, period-friendly world.
