WC Lead SA Youth Hero fighting to keep girls in school with sanitary project
12 year old Daniella started her organisation Bhabhathane Butterfly Foundation when she learned the shocking statistic that girls in underprivileged areas miss between 25 to 35 school days because they cannot afford sanitary towels. To date the organisation has managed to collect 500 sanitary packs.
"We went on this outing and the teacher said the girls don't attend school as much as they would,because of the lak of sanitary items.I thought about it and I decided that there was something we could do about it"
— Daniella,WC November Youth Hero
Daniella put together a team of girls from her school , Elkanah House in Sunningdale. These girls interacted and formed friendships with the girls from Sophakama,a school in Dunoon.
She managed to raise funds by hosting various raffles and hosted a few fun runs along with a running club. The first run saw over 400 participants and the entrance fee was a packet or 2 of sanitary items.
Daniella has ensured that every Grade 6 and 7 girl in Sophakama (all 187 of them) received a care pack from February through to November. That ensured that they did not have to miss any school because of menstruation.
"I decided that girls should have a right to education as much as boys do"
— Daniella,WC Youth Hero
This year alone the foundation has ensured that over 9300 days of possible education were NOT missed due to not having proper sanitary items.
