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By Steve Agbota
The West Africa Container Terminal (WACT) in conjunction with Dofy Global has empower 150 students of Government Secondary School, Onne, Rivers State, one of its host communities, with a training on how to produce eco-friendly reusable sanitary pads to break the stigma surrounding menstruation.
WACT said it started the Menstrual Justice Programme in the fourth quarter of 2023 to keep girls in school because many female students miss classes and sometimes examinations because they are menstruating; address period poverty, a problem identified during the company’s community needs assessment where girls resort to trading sex for sanitary products and contribute to environmental protection by promoting the use of eco-friendly pads.
Speaking during the event to mark the World Menstrual Hygiene Day, WACT Community Relations Manager, Justin Okwuofu, said the company decided to celebrate the event as a way of breaking the taboo of public discussion on menstruation.
He also said the Menstrual Justice Programme addresses the first three thematics of the company’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) interventions namely health, education, training and development.
“When we started the Menstrual Justice Programme in late 2023, the aim was to train students (female and male) on how to produce reusable eco-friendly pads. Apart from the stigma, shame, exclusion, and taboos associated with menstruates, the conventional disposable pads cost between $1.3 to $ 1.9 per pack and the average girl cannot afford this,” he said.
Okwuofu highlighted the terminal operator’s effort in ensuring the sustainability of the training and stated that the students were provided extra materials, including four new sewing machines, to produce more sanitary pads.
“During the training conducted for the students on the production of eco-friendly reusable pads, WACT gave each of the students two sets of materials to produce their sanitary pads. However, with the large population of the school, we were only able to train 150 students; and to further support them, we provided a pack of reusable eco-friendly sanitary pads to each trainee to add to what they were able to produce themselves. We also donated four new sewing machines to the school to enable the students to produce more sanitary pads.
“In addition to sustaining all the lessons given in the course of the programme, we carried out the inauguration of 42 Menstrual Justice Advocates among the students (boys and girls) who have promised to be part of the campaign to promote menstrual health and correct people’s negative perception about menstruation.”
WACT Senior People Business Partner, Chinelo Obienyem, said celebrating the World Menstrual Hygiene Day gave WACT a platform to make positive impact on the host community’s awareness and understanding of menstrual hygiene particularly, as it concerns the girl child.
“World Menstrual Hygiene Day is an important awareness day, and WACT is taking action to make a positive impact. By teaching the girls how to make eco-friendly sanitary pads and providing materials, we are not only helping them manage their periods with dignity but also empowering them with valuable skills and knowledge,” Obienyem said.
The CEO and Principal Partner, Dufy Global, Victor Akubor, said celebration of the World Menstrual Hygiene Day and the training on eco-friendly pad production was as a result of the poor menstrual health and hygiene exacerbating social and economic inequalities amongst some girls and women which also negatively impacts their education, health, safety, and human development.
He said the needs were identified through a participatory appraisal with WACT.
The Principal of Government Secondary School, Onne, Clara Wali, who described the activities carried out by WACT as ‘humanitarian’, said the programme has helped the school in training students to produce their own sanitary pads thereby reducing the number of students who come to her to plead for sanitary pads because they cannot afford it.
A member of the Onne Council of Chiefs, Chief Jima Osaronu, said the programme will impact positively on the community and improve the economic well being of the Onne people even as he stated that more trainings will cause a shift from the traditional way of doing things to the modern way of doing things.
