Reusable Menstrual Hygiene Kits
Learn more about why and how we use reusable Menstrual Kits in our schools
This video tells the story of Empower Playgrounds’ beginning with reusable menstrual hygiene kits. Over the years, as we progressed from merry-go-rounds to other interventions that help enhance education for students in rural West Africa, it became clear that female students were at a disadvantage because of their biology.
Our founder, Ben, tried to visit a particular girl one trip over to Ghana. When he got to her school, she wasn’t in class, even though she was one of the top students in her grade. When Ben asked her teacher where she was, he responded that she was menstruating that week and wouldn’t be in class. Ben was shocked and sad that so many girls were missing one week of class each month because of their periods.
After that trip, we decided to start introducing menstrual hygiene kits in our schools. We brought on a female employee, Peace Yeri (pictured on the right in the red shirt), to help educate the girls on feminine hygiene and how to relates to the importance of staying in school.
Across Ghana and West Africa, millions of girls continue to face barriers to managing their periods safely and confidently. In Ghana, more than 31% of adolescent girls report never receiving menstrual health education, and nearly 2 million schoolchildren lack access to basic water, sanitation, and hygiene facilities at school. Studies in Ghana also show that approximately 1 in 5 girls miss school during menstruation due to stigma, lack of menstrual products, or inadequate facilities.
When girls miss school because of their periods, it impacts not only their education, but also their confidence, opportunities, and future potential.
At Empower Playgrounds, we are committed to helping create safe and supportive learning environments for girls in rural West Africa through menstrual health education and providing reusable menstrual hygiene kits to students. Every girl deserves the opportunity to attend school with dignity — every day of the month.
We now have distributed feminine hygiene kits in all our schools in Ghana, as well as some in Sierra Leone and Liberia. Each reusable kit gives one girl approximately 50 days of school back each year, amounting to a huge impact on their education.
Empower Playgrounds has partnered with many organizations over the years to provide reusable kits to our schools. We currently work with two organizations; Freedom Kits of Yakima and Month by Month. We are so grateful to our amazing partners who make it possible for us to help girls.
Starting in 2023, Empower Playgrounds began hosting an annual Menstrual Hygiene Day Celebration (International Menstrual Hygiene Day is celebrated May 28th each year). We choose an area in Ghana and invite schools to come together, learn about feminine hygiene, and celebrate womanhood and education together. We often partner with other organizations who also have a goal to improve feminine hygiene in rural areas.