Provide Reusable Pads to Keep Girls in School

Keep girls in Malawi in school during their menstrual cycle. Help us reach our goal of raising $7,000 to keep 1,000 girls in school for 5 years!

One out of ten Malawian girls miss school 3 to 4 days every month because of menstruation. Menstrual products (disposable pads and cups) are too expensive for most families who live on less than $1 per day. These girls stop going to school during their cycles because they don't have proper sanitation materials. They fear using traditional folded pieces of cloth, because they are soaked within a few hours and the period blood leaks through to their uniforms, exposing the girls to ridicule and embarrassment. This situation forces girls to stay home for all of their heavy period days. Missing school this often leads to poor grades and low completion rates, setting young women up for a lifetime of financial struggle.

Flame Tree Initiative is the Entrepreneurship Development hub working with Tina Pads. In collaboration with Malawi's higher education institutions, the Flame Tree Initiative challenges the status quo by fostering small, scalable development enterprises that have measurable social and environmental impact. Training Malawians who have the vision and motivation to tackle national problems increases their ability to employ people while they create markets, link to supply chains and transfer job skills by distributing products and services that combat the root causes of poverty.

Tina Pads aim to supply girls in primary and secondary schools with sanitary kits to keep all girls in school. They are also committed to providing jobs to vulnerable girls and women by training them to make Tina Pads.