South African activist receives ‘life-changing’ donation

A 12-year-old girl in Germany was so moved by the inspiring work of South African poverty campaigner Tamara Magwashu that she successfully organized a major charity donation.

Caity Cutter was moved to do something after being shocked to learn Excerpted from BBC article about Ms Magwashu 30% of girls in South Africa do not attend school during their menstrual period.

Ms Magwashu said Katie’s efforts had changed her life.

The story, published a year ago, tells how the now 28-year-old from the Eastern Cape province of South Africa is helping girls who cannot afford sanitary pads by distributing them to schools in poor rural areas for free.

Ms Magwashu, who grew up in a shanty town using rags as sanitary napkins and was bullied for it, is determined to prevent other girls in her community from suffering the same fate.

She created her own business to help girls at home and abroad.

Ms Magwashu told the BBC: “I made a choice deep down in my heart that I didn’t want anyone to go through what I did.”

“My goal is to help every girl in need and give them dignity. If you deprive women of sanitary products, it is a violation of their human rights.”

For Katie, this determination was inspiring and eye-opening.

“I find it really sad that girls my age don’t have access to clean water, menstrual products and toilets,” she said.

Ms Magwashu explained that her family lived in Duncan Village, a small town near East London, and shared a public toilet with about 50 other people.

“It’s crazy to me that we live in a world where people can go to the moon but other people don’t have toilets,” Katie said.

Her father, Michael Cutter, had been working for a biopharmaceutical company for some time to save money and planned to make charitable donations.

His daughter convinced him that helping Ms. Magwashu’s project was a worthy cause.

This is an overwhelming moment for South Africans.

“They donated 500,000 tampons to help girls from marginalized communities. We then received more donations to set up warehouses and hire staff to further distribute the tampons,” she told the BBC.

It all goes to help Ms Magwashu’s non-profit Azosule, whose charitable arm provides free tampons to schools in the poorest communities. It also sells more affordable, sustainable hygiene products.

Ms Magwashu has struck a deal with South African supermarket Makro to stock her tampons in stores across the country and in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

It is estimated that approximately seven million South African girls cannot afford sanitary products.

South Africa is just one of many countries facing period poverty.

Global period poverty affects at least 500 million women and girls, The World Bank has statedleaving them with little access to the facilities they need during menstruation.

last August BBC leads pan-African inquiry Its impact across the continent. Studies have found that women earning the minimum wage in Ghana spend $1 of every $7 they earn on tampons.

But it’s not just about the cost and availability of the pads themselves.

Poverty research organization J-Pal Africa studied the impact of a lack of knowledge about hygiene practices on girls’ education in Madagascar.

The study covered 2,250 female students in 140 primary and secondary schools.

One conclusion from the study was that students’ overall academic skills, memory and concentration improved after proper washing facilities were built and teacher training and vouchers for free sanitary napkins were provided.

Additionally, girls are 17% more likely to advance to the next grade.

Katie said that through her interactions with Ms. Magwashu, she also came to understand that funding menstrual products was “only part of the solution.”

Ms. Magwashu also sends teams to schools to educate girls and boys on menstrual hygiene.

Azosule has always been a favorite of Ms. Magwashu, a public relations graduate. She saved money through part-time jobs and student loans to launch the company in 2021.

Initially, she did this through what she called “pad drives” – when you load up a vehicle and travel to poor areas to distribute hygiene products.

But now she can do more with a larger team.

“With this [donation] We are able to help more schools and are in talks with schools in Brazzaville, Congo, where many girls have never seen a tampon,” Ms Magwashu told the BBC.

She hopes this will one day be available across the continent.

Speaking about the German donation, Ms Magwashu added: “This time it made me feel seen and heard because we are talking about someone who comes from a privileged background and does not have to experience period poverty.

“When I say she completely changed my life, she did.

“Katie will always be my hero. Not only did she change my life, but she changed thousands of girls so they don’t have to go through what I went through.”