Hi from Hope School in Zimbabwe!
We are a primary and secondary school of about 500 kids altogether, in a farming area not far from the city of Bulawayo. All our students come from low-income families, with high unemployment and lots of social challenges. With the high cost of sanitary pads, most of our school girls are forced to use cloth rags during their period, and stay at home to avoid leaks and embarrassment at school. Our vision as a school is to see every child reach their full potential, despite a difficult start in life. So for our girls to be held back by an avoidable issue like lack of sanitary wear is not acceptable.
And that’s where bettercup comes in! We are so excited about our partnership with bettercup, so that our girls can have a long term solution to keep them in school, even at their time of the month.
The menstrual cup is an unfamiliar concept here and so we were aware that we would need to take our time introducing bettercup to the students in a trusted and safe environment.
We decided that the best approach would be to invite the girls’ mums along with them to learn about menstrual cups and to chat about the advantages of using one and to learn about how best to use and clean their bettercup.
We already received a batch of bettercup donations earlier in the year which the teachers at our school have been using. It’s been great for the teachers to get to grips with their bettercups first before introducing the students to theirs.
Over the last few months we have held classes after school for the girls and their mothers. It’s been great to see the mum’s getting to understand what a bettercup is and how to use it, so that they can support their daughters as they get used to using one.
The most frequent questions that have come up are whether it affects virginity or if a girl can wee with her cup in! So it’s been helpful to do some myth-busters and empower the girls (and their mums) with a better understanding of their own bodies.
A big thank you to bettercup from all the girls here at Hope School, and we look forward to continuing in this partnership and will keep you updated with our progress!