Her name isn't important — because this is the story of thousands of girls just like her, in communities across the Overberg region of South Africa. She's twelve. She loves maths. And once a month, for three to five days, she stays home. Not by choice.
Her family cannot afford sanitary pads. So she waits it out at home, using whatever she can find, too embarrassed to risk school. By the time she returns, her class has moved on without her. Slowly, month after month, the gap widens — until many girls simply stop going back at all.
"3 out of 4 children in South Africa go hungry every day. For girls, period poverty adds another silent barrier between them and their education."
Isidima Children's Village NPC works on the ground in the Overberg, South Africa, providing feeding schemes, foster care support, and — through this campaign — sanitary dignity packs for young girls who would otherwise be forced to choose between their bodies and their books.