NEWARK MORNING SUPPORTS HYGIENE PROJECT FOR SCHOOLGIRLS IN NIGERIA With assistance from the Newark Morning Rotary Club, more than 4,100 schoolgirls in Nigeria will now be able to attend school every week of the month, rather than missing 25% of their educational time due to lack of menstrual supplies. The $10,000 project will have a huge impact on schoolgirls and their families through the OnePad Project, run by Assurance Ayilara in Nigeria. The goal of OnePad is to reduce poverty by 25% by 2030, ensuring more girls stay in school and become educated, mentally stable, confident, and successful individuals. The girls were trained on how to make reusable menstrual pads as well as have access to free menstrual hygiene kits and printed information. According to reports by UNICEF, 10% of African girls miss school due to their periods. In Nigeria, nearly 8 million schoolgirls do not have sufficient access to menstrual hygiene products nor related education. This leads to unhygienic practices and increases the risk of infections and illnesses. Many of these girls come from slums, fishing camps, and the riverine areas of Bayelsa and Rivers states in the southern part of Nigeria. “No girl should miss out on her education because of the fear or stigma of menstruating,” said Rotarian Doris Chan Leach, chair of the grant project. “All teenage girls should be empowered with the right information about their bodies.” Along with a grant from Rotary District 7630, the Newark Morning Rotarians committed $10,000 to the project with the intent of continuing to support the health and education of girls internationally as well as locally. In June 2023, the female members of this club, along with some female spouses, assembled 100 kits of a variety of menstrual supplies and donated them to girls at Glasgow High School who were considered low-income or homeless to help them during the summer months when the school nurse was not available to accommodate their emergency needs. The Newark Morning Rotary Club has been committed to serving our local and global communities for more than 25 years. For more information, visit www.nmrde.org. For more information on this press release, contact Robin Broomall at rbroomall@usa.net.
The Newark Morning Rotarians met Ayilara when she attended the Mandella Fellows program at University of Delaware in summer of 2022. Her commitment to the One Pad Project convinced the Rotarians to support the Nigerian project, filling one of Rotary’s Areas of Focus : Women’s and Children’s Health.
Photos courtesy of OnePad Project. 
