The Just a Pad initiative provides sanitary towels and other personal effects to girls and women on the streets.
Just a Pad is a social initiative that empowers women and girls in street families in Nairobi in Menstrual Health.
Access to Sanitation and especially pads is quite a challenge to women who live in the streets and we help meet this need by donating Sanitary Pads and other personal effects as well as share knowledge on Menstrual Hygiene and Reproductive Health.
The initiative also through collaborations with various organizations helps in rehabilitating some of the street families.
Just a Pad was founded in August 2018 by Journalist and Digital Media Communications Consultant Winnie Kabintie, after a story documenting the plight of women on the streets and access to sanitary towels went viral on social media.
“The story made me realize that access to a basic, tiny thing like a pad, which most of us hardly give much thought about, is quite a luxury to most girls. The story broke my heart and i just couldn’t move on to the next story and forget about it” Ms Kabintie said in a media Interview.
WHAT JUST A PAD DOES
Our goal is to transform the lives of these needy women and girls by empowering them in the following key areas;
- Reproductive Health
- Mentorship
- Education
Education
Education has been touted as one of the key catalysts that will enable Kenya to reap from the Demographic Dividend and in the spirit of “leaving no girl behind”, in Just A pad we believe that by ensuring that vulnerable young people in the street families are rehabilitated and taken to school, it will accord them a good future and also reduce the economic burden of street families in Nairobi.
In our monthly interactions with the women, as we share sanitary towels, we encourage them to take their children to school.
Reproductive Health
We often through collaborations with our volunteers and Health Facilities within Nairobi, hold medical camps for street families to check on their well-being and create Reproductive Health awareness, particularly to the girls and women.
Mentorship
As observed during our first experiences in the ground, most street families have set base within slums and these presented another frontier for Just A Pad to reach out to the vulnerable Girls in the slums and donate Sanitary Towels to them and also provide mentorship through our Just a Pad Sisters.
The girls face so many social challenges including early pregnancies that curtail their access to education. Lack of sanitary towels and mentorship remains a big challenge that continues to see girls miss school, drop out or trade sex for a few coins.
We believe mentoring these girls and giving them hope and a sense of belonging will go along way in bringing the best in them and helping them amount to great women of substance.
Winnie Kabintie - I'm so happy today to be dispatching these custom made SucessCards to our girls as I celebrate my birthday. EmpoweringGirls Education mentorship SheForHer JustApad shecan