Hope School, Zimbabwe
Ruth’s sister’s school is Hope School, Zimbabwe, which offers education to around 420 local children who typically live in basic two room, brick or mud homes, many without electricity or running water. They survive on an average family income of $1 per day. This makes sanitary pads unaffordable for the girls who attend the school. Currently the school relies on donations of sanitary pads from well-wishers, as the girls previously had no other option than to use rags during their period. However, since Zimbabwe is currently in one of the worst times of inflation in history, even these donated pads are becoming unaffordable.
One of the leading problems with poor school attendance among girls in that area (and of course, many others) is lack of sanitary wear. And we just don’t think that’s okay. It breaks our hearts at bettercup that such a basic human need is not being met and that girls are missing out on their education, and future prospects, because of something so simple.
"The exciting opportunity with gifting a bettercup to each of these girls is that it is a long term answer to the problem, rather than a fleeting aid."
No need for more sanitary pads donated month after month, expensive and destined for landfill. That one cup will enable the girls to focus on their education for the rest of their schooling, rather than worry each month how they will get through their period and still focus on their studies. As well as gifting cups to the teenage students, we also include the female staff who, sadly, are also affected by period poverty due to the current dire economic state of the nation.
We are thrilled to be working with Hope School, but it doesn’t stop there; we have exciting plans in the pipeline to partner with other brilliant schools and charities, both overseas and here in the UK. Because every person, whatever their story, deserves better.
Irida Women’s Centre, Greece
Is a safe place for refugee, migrant, and local women, living in the urban area of Thessaloniki, the second-largest city in Greece.
So far we have donated £6000 worth of bettercups to the centre.
They are currently a community of approximately 450 women from 37 different countries. However, these numbers do not include all women and families that have found at Irida a “resting place” during their long journey to safety, peace, and freedom.
The Irida Centre provides individualized psycho-social support, protection services, and legal counseling, based on our members’ unique needs. At the same time, we give the opportunity to refugee and asylum-seeking women to develop their skills and access language & literacy classes, employability pieces of training, recreational activities, and a strong community network.
We are in the midst of planning a series of classes with the women around personal health and period care with a Midwife and Gynaecologist. This will be a way of sensitively introducing the concept of menstrual cups to the women, as for most of whom menstrual cups will be a very foreign concept.
Our aim is to make sustainable, long lasting change and to empower people to have a better period. At the Irida Centre, this vision in action is to introduce the women to menstrual cups in a safe, open environment where they are able to ask questions and learn how to properly use and clean their cup. To begin this journey with them, at their pace, so that we are able to leave them feeling empowered and confident with their period.
Period. The menstrual movement
PERIOD is focused on eradicating period poverty and stigma through education, advocacy, and service.
PERIOD trains and equips a network of youth leaders, and hundreds of partner organizations and over 500 active PERIOD chapters, with the resources and expertise needed to end menstrual poverty and stigma in their communities.
PERIOD provides grassroots organizing training, grants for youth-led menstrual equity community groups, and educational resources. Critically, PERIOD freely distributes millions of period products annually to menstruators experiencing economic insecurity.
A misconception about period poverty is that it only happens in the developing world. Unfortunately, this is not the case. According to PERIOD’s study, 1 in 5 teens have struggled to afford period products, and 84% of teens have either missed or know someone who has missed school due to period poverty. Luckily, we have faith that today’s youth activists will solve period poverty in their lifetime, and we aim to provide the resources and products to support this critical work.
It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Ella's - Unlocking freedom
Ella’s is a London-based organisation doing everything it can to ensure survivors of trafficking and exploitation have all they need to recover and build lives that are safe and free.
Ella’s offers safe house accommodation for women when they are most vulnerable, care to help them recover, and long-term community-based support to help them build safe, independent lives. The support at Ella’s is intensive and tailored to the individual, and is essential to the safety and freedom of survivors. Without it, many would fall back into danger.
The need for Ella’s’ work is huge. Around the world, 40.3 million people are trapped in modern slavery. Of those trafficked, more than 70% are women and girls.
Trafficking and exploitation are crimes taking place on a mass scale and the effect on people’s lives is devastating. Each of the women at Ella’s has a different story, but all have been hugely impacted by the cruelty they’ve been through. Ella’s exists to provide survivors with the care and support they need to recover from these experiences and move forward.