Mumsnet Talk

I have updated the blog - with details how to donate. If you are sending me money, would you note on it that it is for this campaign. Thanks

Bertie
A friend on FB has just introduced me to her friend, who works with these people who teach girls in East Africa to make their own san pro.

'A £ a period' is a great slogan, isn't it?

RIGHT.

<strident bossy tone>

Bumping this thread to see if anyone is interested. If you are, PM me and I will send you my address for you to send san pro to. If you would like to donate cash, I will gladly accept that too.

Am bumping this rather than watch James May blathering about gliders.

Why do men watch such claptrap?

Bump in case anyone else is interested

Right now, I think that a water tank would be of more use to them. They are in a very rural location. I would have to investigate if one of these machines would be suitable for their location.

If anyone wants to donate cash instead of san pro, then we could donate a MN water tank. That would be pretty cool.

Hmm. We could get a good start on it... I'll have a think.

Do you mean for a water tank, TSC? The machines are £1600

Can't we do a MN whipround for a machine??? £100 is fuck all when there's people on here donating all sorts?

Thanks to those who PMed me. I have replied

Sorry, haven't been back to this all week, as I have been v busy.

If you are interested in donating, please let me know - some of you have PMed me.

I will send out a parcel in January.

Here is the Team MN page

if you are a member of TeamMN on Catapult, check out the projects that Johnson and Johnson are sponsoring - they are matching donations on certain projects.

Christmassy bump

I am feeling rather stalked.

An ad keeps popping up over >> to encourage me to buy a menstrual cup.

Bertie
I love the idea, but it would need someone knowledgeable in the area to help set up and get it going, I think. And I don't have that time and knowledge.

I have been told that we can send goods up to the value of $50 without paying taxes, so will confirm that and then we are good to go.

Timescale : I thought I would send the packages beginning of January to let Xmas out of the way first.

Ah that's a shame TBH I hadn't remembered it quite right anyway, I had the impression it was a portable machine that women could use to make their own san pro and it was less expensive. Should have read the article before posting, still, I guess it was worth a mention.

I know it's a lot of money to raise, but if the money could be raised for the machine alone would that help, if they were only having to buy the materials? Rather than setting it up as a business they could perhaps use it collectively or something. I have no idea how widely available the raw materials are are or how cheap to buy is the only problem - if they cost much then it won't be much use!

I have read about that guy, Bertie. Amazing story.

I don't know about raising the money to buy a machine - it is a lot of money, and I don't know enough about the area to know whether it would work. I suspect not, as they are really very poor.

To give you an idea of the poverty - the women in the collective donate 75p a month and they save towards tanks that cost £100. It takes them ages to save that money.

I can't imagine how they would fund a business, without huge amount of start up money, and as I said, I don't know enough about the area to know if they could sell the finished product.

DewDrop you could donate to a women's refuge in UK, they would be grateful.

What about these machines I read about earlier this year? Would it be feasible to raise money to buy some of these?

www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2012/jan/22/sanitary-towels-india-cheap-manufacture

Ah, yes, of course, I understand the water issue.

Would you get away with no import tax if you sent 'left over' pads ie individually, hygienically wrapped but not in original boxes IYSWIM? Small amounts in individual parcels so it is not a 'commercial' exercise in any shape or form??

I spent some time in Uganda and had my mum send out about 10x the amount of pads I needed and never paid any kind of tax (not even for the included chocolate either...), but don't know about Kenya.

They have issues with water, PD. The reason we went to see them was that they had a womens' collective to save money for water barrels, for drinking water, as they have to get water from the river.

It seems they will have to pay import tax. Perhaps we can send some san pro and also send some money to pay the tax. Will see if I can find someone over there to give advice.

Oh, I was just about to PM you, but will just quietly sit here, marking my place til further notice.

I'd love to contribute in whatever way appropriate.
How about reusable san-pro?? Or would that be rubbish as washing/sanitising them might be difficult/impossible?

Ok, am just checking out if there are issues with import taxes as I don't want them to have problems with that. Have PMed those who contacted me earlier, but perhaps wait till I have sorted out the postal thing.

There is always Tampon Art