Recognizing the financial burden placed on young women throughout the world in securing adequate supplies of sanitary napkins, Rafia Ahmed and Gauri Shyamnath, two seniors from New Hyde Park High School, have established Femme Forces, an organization to help ease the burden.
“We noticed a lack of attention surrounding feminine hygiene and pre and postnatal care in developing nations,” says Rafia. “As young women of South Asian descent, we also recognize the taboo that surrounds feminine sex health in our culture.”
Through a go-fund-me page, Rafia and Gauri raised over $2000. Gauri then turned to the youth group of the Ethical Humanist Society of LI, where she is a member. There she and Rafia received guidance from a member of the Ethical Society who introduced the two to Brad Broder, a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer, who currently runs The Kenya Education Fund. KEF provides scholarships to high school age students and helps female students to get sanitary products and the money that the two New Hyde Park students raised is being used for that purpose.
Research by Menstrual Hygiene Day, a global advocacy platform for non-profit organizations and government agencies to promote menstrual health, shows that 65 percent of women and girls in Kenya are unable to afford sanitary pads.
Says Joy Maingi, the Communications Manager for KEF, based in Nairobi, “Period poverty – being unable to work or attend school because of lack of funds for sanitary products – makes life really difficult for women in Kenya.”
The Femme Forces donation provided 450 girls with a three-month supply of pads.
Gauri and Rafia are at work locally now as well as in Kenya. They will be providing sanitary products to packets being put together for New Hour for Women and Children—LI that will be given to women as they are released from prison.
“We are extremely appreciative of every dollar donated to help empower women on local and international scopes and its Youth at Ethical Humanist Society where I am communications director,” says Gauri.
For more information about Femme Forces and to donate: https://femmeforces1.wixsite.com/non-profit
Joy Maingi (left), communications manager of the Kenya Education Fund, presents sanitary pads and a workbook to a high school student in Kisumu-Western Kenya.
