St Peter’s School pupils have teamed up with Rotary-run project Yorkits to create washable, reusable, eco-friendly feminine hygiene kits for girls in developing countries.
On Tuesday 23 November, the pupils welcomed Yorkits volunteers to their weekly after-school club Makerspace in the Design and Technology Department, in collaboration with the Community Action Team from St Peter’s School.
The ladies from Yorkits showed the pupils how to use sewing machines and brightly coloured materials to make the hygiene kits as part of their 'keeping girls in education’ campaign.
The pupils worked on all the elements of the kits and they hope to continue making the kits in future sessions. Issy Sanderson from Yorkits was impressed with how hard the pupils worked: “The whole Yorkits team thought that it had been a really good workshop and we were very pleased to see the girls engaging with the idea and having a go at all the different stages presented to them.”
Jenny Kinread, Mathematics teacher and part of the Community Action Team at St Peter’s School, said: “We were keen to get involved with the Yorkits project to enable our pupils to see how, by volunteering their time to help make these kits that contain items that we might take for granted, they can help to make a positive change in the lives of girls in developing countries.”
Yorkits is a community-based project which involves volunteers coming together to make up low-cost, cleverly designed feminine hygiene kits which are distributed to girls across the globe. The kits are packed into attractive drawstring bags and a kit will last each girl typically for up to three years.
To date, Rotary York Ainsty volunteers have delivered kits to 13 African countries, 4 Asian countries and in refugee camps in Europe and The Yemen. Templates and instructions on how to make further kits have also been provided in most of these countries.
The kits enable girls living in poverty to access uninterrupted schooling and attend school during menstruation, which would not be possible without feminine hygiene provision.
