Period. End of Sentence won this year’s Academy Award for Best Documentary (short subject). The film depicts the cultural taboos and gender-based struggles that women in parts of India face relating to menstruation. The level of empowerment for women and the economic impact a small group of activists have when they produce and provide women access to affordable feminine hygiene products is both humbling and inspiring.

A Kelowna charity, ISEE Solutions, has been doing similar work in Uganda since 2012. The charity provides sanitary kits and reproductive health education seminars as a direct response to the challenges of being female in Uganda. School aged Ugandan girls miss 3 to 5 days of classes per month when they menstruate. Girls simply do not have anything to soak up the blood. They use grass, rocks, newspaper, dirty rags. Subsequently, they do not feel clean enough to attend school.

Since 2012, Kelowna volunteers have been sewing menstrual hygiene products. These pieces are combined with parts sewn by women in Africa and the completed kits, which contain washcloths, washable menstrual pads, underwear, and soap are distributed in Ugandan schools. The kits last three years and are a simple intervention with an enormous impact. The charity was started by Kelowna teacher, Erika Van Oyen, in response to the plight of girls and women in Uganda. Van Oyen will be travelling to Uganda, along with six local volunteers, this summer. They have started a Go Fund Me page to help reach their goal of delivering $5000 in kits this July. The kits cost $3.30 CAD each to produce. The Go Fund Me campaign is called Prevent Period Poverty with reusable sanitary kits. To donate:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/erika039s-campaign-for-isee-solutions-society

ISEE Solutions Is an official registered Canadian charity, based in Kelowna. The focus of their work is education and the empowerment of girls and women in Uganda, Africa.