Vinola Masilo (27), a student from Tshwane South TVET College is motivated by the odeal she endured when she first experienced her first menstrual periods and her grade 8 classmate offered her two sanitary pads. Unfortunately, she would not have access to this luxury as often as her periods demanded.
“Throughout my Secondary and High School years I was continuously using a cloth and had to wash it again when I got home, at times I would skip school because of heavy flows, said Ms Masilo.”
Often she would get assistance from her school teachers but it would not be enough because they could not help her with sanitary towels on a monthly basis. This affected her schoolwork and put too much strain on her academically and emotionally.
Ms Masilo is part of the SRC ODI TUT campus in Mabopane and in this position she uses the opportunity to make people aware of the discomforts of young girls when they do not have sanitary towels.
“I wanted to use this position to be able to motivate other young ladies that no matter their backgrounds that they will make it one day it life. The first SRC meeting I raised the issue of sanitary towels that there are girls out there who do not make use of sanitary towels, and I want us to start donating them to other campuses, she said”.
“In my first SRC meeting I raised the matter of girls who do not have access to sanitary towels and the Head of Projects Campaign, Tshegofatso Motlhala, came up with a campaign called O’MAD (Operation Make a Difference),”shd said.
Ms Masilo said that the campus decided to support her cause and to create awareness in the community meant a lot to her.
The vision of O’MAD campaign is to see it grow beyond the college/community and be able to provide for other girls/women in other provinces in a few years to come. The organization would also like to see other companies getting involved in terms of donating sanitary towels.
Ms Masilo said this campaign is very close to her heart because she has endured a lot because of lack of sanitary towels and she urges other young girls to seek for help because menstrual cycle is nothing to be ashamed of.
To donate contact Ms Masilo Facebook – Vinolia V Masilo E-mail – vinoliavmasilo@gmail.com
