Girls at St. Stephen Secondary School received a donation of sanitary pads from Touched Minds, a charity organization based in Kampala. The initiative, according to Ms. Clare Kyarisima, head of the organization, aligns with their mission to ensure that no girl misses school due to menstruation.
“We urge the government and other sponsors to provide financial and material support to organizations like ours so we can extend the same help to more schools across Uganda, including women in prisons,” she said.
Access to sanitary pads remains a significant challenge for rural schools. Earlier this year, a viral TikTok video featured a girl from the same area admitting to using soil during her periods due to a lack of pads. The video caught the attention of social media activists, prompting a fundraising campaign to supply sanitary pads to girls in the region.
During the last presidential election campaigns, the president promised to make sanitary pads accessible to rural girls, a pledge that remains unfulfilled.
At the donation event, Mr. Grace Tambula, the deputy headteacher of St. Stephen, expressed gratitude, stating that the school’s 435 girls would benefit from both the pads and menstrual health education. He reminded the students, “It is normal and healthy to experience menstruation, as it is a natural part of life. If any of you have issues with your cycle, you should seek medical advice.”
Assistant Head Prefect, Patricia Nanteza Dorothy, shared the struggles they face as girls in rural, underserved schools without reliable access to menstrual pads. “It can be embarrassing in class, and many girls avoid coming to school during their periods out of fear of being teased by boys. This discomfort affects our concentration and is a major reason for the high dropout rates among girls of menstruating age in the Busoga Subregion,” she said, urging other organizations to follow Touched Minds’ example.
During a first-time experience-sharing session, a senior two student, identified only as Victoria, recalled thinking her first period was a wound bleeding inside her. Another student, Shamira, shared that her father, with whom she lived, explained menstruation when she first saw blood in her underwear. He also warned her to be cautious with boys, explaining that she was now capable of bearing children.
