The Sanitary Towel Project
Anita The Knicker Lady inquired about how girls and women manage when having their menstrual period. Seeing that most don't have clean running water, the issue of reusable sanitary towel didn't seem feasible.
On the basis of this exchange, Anita did some research into disposable pads, how and where they are made ... and in her researching she discovered that Biodegradable Sanitary Towels were being made in rural parts of India... Anita (with the support of her family) cancelled the holiday they had planned so that she could travel to India and meet Mr Muruganantham in Coimbatore , the man who has designed a very inexpensive machine that a handful of women could set up in a rural setting to build an industry making disposable sanitary towels. Mr Muruganantham in Coimbatore had sold many of his machines to small remote rural communities in India.
While visiting Mr Muruganantham in Coimbatore India, she not only visited his manufacturing centre where he makes his machines, she also visited a Biodegradable Sanitary Towel Manufacturing Enterprise, run by a small group of women, where she even made a batch of sanitary towels herself...
Anita was inspired and came back to the UK and the Mumba Children's Project with a plan to make biodegradable, disposable sanitary towels in Mpongwe
Biodegradable Sanitary Towel Project - Fundraising Poster
Following the Indian Model, (which is a commercial enterprise) this project will be based in Mpongwe. It will be an enterprise that will offer employment to the women and men too. The factory will offer cheap, affordable sanitary pads that are biodegradable and therefore environmentally friendly.