SheRise Ghana, a not-for-profit organization that aims to uplift girls and women and help them overcome barriers to their progress, has donated sanitary pads to over 400 girls at the Sirigu Integrated Senior High School in the Kassena Nankana West District.
The organization, based in the Upper East Region, made the donation with support from Charger Limited, producers of HM Life Mixture, Happy Man Bitters, and Black Legend Coffee Gin, and Aqua Bolg Foundation, a social outreach wing of Aqua Bolg Mineral Water.
With a mission to support and inspire girls and young women to develop the confidence, courage, and resilience to overcome obstacles and achieve their dreams, the organization set out to support school girls with sanitary pads.
Its founder Teni Sarah Babohima, in 2023, extended similar gestures to basic schools in various districts and nearly 1000 girls benefited from the benevolence of the 2023 Women in Media Icon in the Northern Zone.
The initial donations were funded with the prize of 4,000 cedis she received after emerging the 2023 Women in Media Icon in the Northern Zone. The initiative got the backing of the general public some of whom made contributions that enabled her support many more girls.
She eventually established SheRise Ghana in a bid to extend her tentacles to cover more women and girls beyond the donation of sanitary pad as part of her women empowerment drive.
The latest donation at the Sirigu Integrated Senior High School targeted over 400 girls and became the first major donation to a single school at the second-circle level.
Speaking during the donation on Tuesday, Teni Sarah Babohima, while thanking Charger Limited and Aqua Foundation for their support, noted that hygiene products are beyond the reach of many girls and thus, the initiative to support them.
She urged the students not to lose sight of the reason they are in school, which is to learn and to focus on improving their academics to safeguard their future.
“Last year, I received an award as the zonal Icon for Women in Media, Northern Zone, with a cash prize of Ghc 4000.00. I decided to use this money to buy sanitary pads and support young girls in rural and deprived schools like yours. However, the money finished just in our 3 or 4 schools,” she stated.
She continued “Knowing the challenges young girls in rural areas face during their menstruation, I decided to solicit support from friends and my little funds to buy more sanitary pads to continue the donation exercise. That’s how; I started SheRise Ghana, with the support of my team and sponsors like Charger Limited and the CEO of Aqua Bolg, my big sister Humu Khrusum Tahiru”.
Educating them on reproductive health, she noted that sexually transmitted diseases are on the rise hence the need to abstain from sex.
“Abstain from sex and take your academics seriously. You might end up contracting STDs and STIs if you have unprotected sex. Be a strong girl and lead the way”.
Humu Khrusum Tahiru, Executive Director of Aqua Bolg Foundation, equally urged the students to work towards achieving their dreams by paying more attention to their education and their advancement in life.
Some students expressed gratitude to the organization as they shared their struggle getting sanitary pads including borrowing from friends and how relieving the donation is to them.
