Cameroon: Help us end the stigma about menstruation!

Because a girl’s period should not be a barrier to education, we’ve decided to distribute menstrual hygiene products to the girls of  our centers. Often girls miss school when they have their period, that’s why we’re actively working on a sustainable project to make our own washable pads in order to change the daily life of our girls. Menstruation is really nothing to be ashamed of, Odile Prevot, our CEO has decided to start talking about it! Let’s read her thoughts here:

“If Rugby is the vector, the excuse or serves as a hook to bring pupils together out of the street, the Serge Betsen Academy is fighting for every single child to be able to go to school.

While in Cameroon and Mali these last few months I got to spend more time with the girls of our centers. As CEO of the SBA I have been focusing particularly on the girls, their education, their role, their future, their problems and how to resolve them.

A number of our girls are missing schools during their periods as they’re unable to afford sanitary products. Some of them are improvising protections using rags, leaves, newspapers. Why? Whilst menstruation is one of the most ordinary individual female experiences, the discussion of menstruation in Africa is complicated due to cultural and social attitudes.

It’s not a new problem, but it’s not going away, and it’s time to take action: a girl absent from school due to menstruation loses on average 2 weeks of learning in every school term.

In 2020, we decided to distribute menstrual hygiene products so that no girls shall be excluded from education, no girls shall be ashamed of menstruation, no girls shall miss class and sport activities due to their periods. Help us break down the stigma!”