“When women hold hands, all things are possible”
At the last AGM, the CUUWA questioned if there was a possibility of linking the Lunapad’s Afripad program with Child Haven. It turns out Child Haven is producing low-cost sanitary napkins. Read on!
CUUWA Child Haven’s MVP Program for Women, located in a low-income area in Ghaziabad, is fully funded by Child Haven. It has trained some 8,000 women in tailoring over the last 10 years. These women then make and repair clothes for their families, or find employment doing tailoring for others. They come for 6 months and learn on the center’s 22 machines, some hand-cranked and some foot-treadle powered.
A year ago or so, Child Haven purchased equipment to make low-cost sanitary napkins, which the center is also now producing. Six women are trained to produce the pads, and 5 are doing the marketing. The pads are much less costly than those found in the market making them accessible to more women. The project has also offered family planning training to some 50,000 women including a focus on the value of girl children, asthe poster from their wall above shows.
Rajni, the founding coordinator of the project, found, when she first moved to the area, it had very poor services, schools water and other basic needs. So she started a women’s group to work on solving these problems. She and Bonnie Cappucino went to government officials together, helped women get ID cards and the like and she discovered the joy of working with and helping others;
“I can make money anywhere but this work gives tremendous satisfaction, Ranji says.
(Excerpted from the Child Haven Newsletter) www.childhaven.ca