Queenpads PNG conducted a 2-day awareness program recently in Goroka, Eastern Highlands Province.
The purpose of the awareness was to educate girls and women as well as males on the topic of menstrual health and hygiene.
Founder of Queenpads PNG, Anne Shirley Korave, said that Goroka was one of the few provinces that Queenpads has visited so far.
The main target audience for the awareness were school girls and female employees.
“We reached out to four schools in Goroka which we have visited and spoke to the female students and also the male students as well about better understanding the process as a normal and a special one.”
“It was a good experience to see young boys involving themselves in the discussions which was a huge breaking barrier for us thus making it a good experience,” Ms Korave said.
Queenpads PNG who are working in partnership with the Sir Brian Bell Foundation, specializes in both the production of reusable pads and conducting of awareness programs.
According to Shirley, through their awareness sessions, Queenpads aims to start breaking the cultural and social barriers and also to break the silence in the communities when it comes to the topic of menstrual hygiene.
“We aim to break the silence amongst the females for them to see menstruation as something normal iand that they should not be afraid and ashamed of talking about it.”
“Due to the strong cultural backgrounds and traditions in our country, we at Queenpads do our best to teach communities on the importance of this topic and are really happy that we were able to reach many communities since we started out,” said Anne-Shirley.
Queenpads have so far visited three provinces including Mt Hagen, Lae and their recent trip which was to Goroka.
According to Shirley, the outcome of the sessions have been good so far with a lot of positive feedbacks given and they hope to maintain it that way when visiting other provinces as well.
“After our sessions, each participant was given a ‘Let’s Talk period” flyer plus the distribution of reusable Queenpads, followed by a 10 minutes question time if they had any questions or clarifications about what we do at Queenpads PNG.”
This way we are sure that the message we deliver is clear enough for them,” Ms Korave said.
Queenpads PNG started as an initiative for those who couldn’t afford menstrual pads beginning with the creation of sample pads and how to make them reusable.
Ms Korave said that a lot of research and effort had to be put into how to make pads reusable and safe to use. This included testing them as well.
She concluded that with the successful production of pads, Queenpads have ventured into helping young girls and women out there.
“We began in Moresby where we started off at a few schools and settlement areas and after seeing a lot of positive feedbacks, we decided to branch out to other parts of the country as well.”
Shirley advised all young women and girls not to be ashamed but to embrace what they are going through as it is a normal process for women.
Queenpads PNG will continue their awareness in Madang, Kokopo and Kimbe Province.