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Safe periods for 1000 girls in tribal areas of Sukma,Chattisgarh

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Why is this critical?
Sukma is a naxal affected tribal region in Chattisgarh. In this remote, cut off location, girls struggle every month for basic requirements. Access to sanitary napkins is abysmal and most girls have never even seen a sanitary napkin! This forces many girls to miss school during periods and also exposes them to the risk of contracting infections.

While the situation is grim, but there are NGOs like Shiksharth, who are encouraging girls to attend school and have access to quality education despite all odds.

We, at Saral Designs, want to do our bit by providing access to sanitary napkins so that menstruation is not a reason for girls to miss days of school.

Why now?
This week is very special. While we celebrate the joy of giving across the country through Daan Utsav, we also revere the power of Durga. It is the right time to start empowering our little Durgas who are fighting against all odds to attend schools. It is the right time to provide them access to dignity and freedom.

How do we address this?
Saral Designs is working with Shiksharth to solve the problem of access of sanitary napkins to 1000 young girls.With your support, 1000 girls will be educated about hygiene practices and will have access to sanitary napkins for one year.

How does this work?

To provide yearly supply of sanitary napkins to 1000 girls, we are looking to raise a total of Rs.3,60,000.

The cost of 1 pack of Aisha Ultra XL Sanitary Napkins is Rs.30.

One girl will be provided with a supply of 12 packets for a year. Cost of yearly supply per girl is Rs.360.

This will be supplemented with training of teachers and girls on key topics like what is the biology behind menstruation, best hygiene practices and myth busting.

Who are we?

Saral Designs

Founded by a team of alumni from IIT Bombay and IIT Madras, Saral Designs is a team of young, enthusiastic and passionate engineers who believe that they can bring difference in lives of people through technology and are committed to create and deliver solutions that would impact millions of people. For more details, visit: http://saraldesigns.in/about.php

Shiksharth

Shiksharth is started in Sukma, an adivasi dominant area, in 2015 to bridge the gap in education in tribal areas and bring community and its elements inside the classroom. We believe that all the languages that our children speak must be valued and included equally in the classroom rather than just emphasizing on state languages only. We believe it is a pressing need to include the local knowledge, culture and the way of life in school curriculum and teaching methodology. For more details, visit: https://shiksharth.in/

Daan Utsav
The country celebrates the Joy of Giving week from 2nd October to 8th October, by engaging people through "acts of giving" - money, time, resources and skills - spanning the corporate, NGO and government sectors, schools, colleges and the general public. For more details, visit: http://joyofgivingweek.org/

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13th February 2017

Dear Donors,

Thank you for being an amazing support and helping the girls in the tribal areas of Sukma. We have an extremely positive update to share with you all.

With the help of your contribution, in November 2016, Shiksharth successfully distributed sanitary napkins to 1000 girls in Sukma. The distribution was carried out in five schools - Pota Cabin Chhindgarh, Pota Cabin Kumharraas, Pota Cabin Murtonda, Kasturba Gandhi Kanya Vidyalaya Sukma and ‘Saakaar' Gyanodaya Kanya Parisar.

"We cannot afford the napkins, and now we have got this for the whole year. We are all happy because now we don’t have to skip school during our periods," says Gangotri, a student from Murtonda Pota Cabin.

A few teachers stated that at such affordable prices, the quality of the pads is very good. Many young tribal female staff used pads for the first time and could experience how hygiene leads to a healthier life.

At Kasturba Gandhi Kanya Vidyalaya

At Pota Cabin Chhindgarh

At Pota Cabin Kumharraas

At Pota Cabin Murtonda

A more significant change has been observed in the female staff in these residential schools, who were earlier unable to provide the right guidance to the girls. Because of better experiences, they are now able to deliver proper guidance, thereby ensuring healthy results in the future.

Here is a small message from Shiksharth:

“We are Shiksharth. We have been working in tribal region for 5 years with core focus on classroom learning. However, we have always been worried about the girl child and the health issues they face. It is painful to see how, due to lack of awareness, accessibility and affordability of menstrual product, many hazardous practices are prevalent in communities and residential schools. Imagining the same girls will be mothers tomorrow makes it look like a vicious circle. Unfortunately, there are no organisations working on menstrual health in this part of the country. With your support, we have tried a small pilot to see how impactful it can be and it has been really encouraging and gave us a confidence to pursue this issue further.

On behalf of team Shiksharth, Danteshwari Mahila Mandal and all the girls, teachers and staff, we thank all you donors and team Saral Designs for your kind gesture, and considering reaching out to people who are often forgotten and left behind.”

We are overwhelmed with the success of the campaign. We wish Saral Designs and Shiksharth success in all their future projects!

Team Milaap