How a young man gave out free sanitary pads to hundreds
By Chikezie Ogbonna
Standing in front of her class with face beaming with beautiful smile born out of excitement over the new gift she has with her, Nwanneka was all full of joy as Sopulu Onyibor foundation visited her school and made her dream a reality.
Nwanneka, a girl in SS2 (Senior Secondary Class Two) is from a poor home. As a 16 year old, Nwanneka finds it hard to afford sanitary pads whenever she is experiencing her menstrual period. According to the young girl, she mostly uses tissue or a napkin which she will wash to use afterwards whenever she is experiencing her menstrual cycle.
However, succor came her way and many others as Sopulu Onyibor foundation and partners visited her school in Awka to distribute free sanitary pads to students.
Menstruation frequently poses psychological, social, and health challenges for young women living in low- and middle-income countries.
Studies have found that access to menstrual hygiene products is a major challenge facing women and girls in developing countries. Here, the aspect of water, sanitation and hygiene is often overlooked.
Lack of access to menstrual hygiene products can often mean that women and girls have considerable difficulty in going about their lives during menstruation and can be almost entirely restricted at the home due to practical reasons and the stigma frequently attached.
Multiple studies have found that girls in low-income settings miss or struggle at school during menstruation if it is not possible for them to effectively manage their menstrual hygiene.
On 28th May, the world marked Menstrual Hygiene Day, an annual awareness day to highlight the importance of good menstrual hygiene management at a global level. Having a firsthand grasp of the somewhat debilitating challenges young school girls face when it comes to menstrual hygiene in Nigeria, an Anambra young philanthropist in his late 20s, Sopulu Onyibor took it upon himself to galvanize support and assist over 300 school girls with free sanitary pad as his little way to mark the world menstrual hygiene day.
Studies have found that the key methods to increase access to menstrual hygiene products are through improving their availability and affordability, and improving understanding of this topic in the community.
However, in the past, to increase availability, various national and international initiatives have distributed free or subsidized menstrual hygiene products, especially in underdeveloped nations across Africa and Asia.
To further bridge the widening gap in menstrual hygiene sustenance, Sopulu with support from his friends and under his foundation, delivered free sanitary pads to over 300 secondary students across Awka, Anambra State capital, Nigeria.
According to him, it was a heart driven gesture born out of that deep desire in him to make the difference, put smiles on faces and help anchor a new society which we all can be proud of.
Responding to why he took such herculean task to distribute free sanitary pads to school children, Sopulu maintained that we owe to this world the best of our best. We owe to this world that greatness inherent in us as we have the responsibility to awaken it and make it count.
As the founder of Sopulu Onyibor Foundation, Sopulu believes that he will rather consider himself as the solution while carrying himself on as the key to a better, stronger, prosperous and a flourishing Africa with Nigeria and especially South East as his starting point.
With such gesture which he promised to continue each year, Nwanneka and many more school children’s hope of having access to free and durable sanitary pad to stay healthy always remain alive.
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