‘My goal is to offer reusable pads to all girls in Uganda’

The journey of Gloria Nabutiti, a 30-year-old resident of Bunabititi Sub county in Bududa District started the day she discovered that two girls had dropped out of school because they lacked pads to use during their menstrual periods.
“I saw two girls sitting on the shores of River Manafwa. When I asked them why they were not in school, they said they did not have pads. This broke my heart and painted a picture of several other girls out there who are going through tough times,” she said

How she started
Nabutiti, at 17 years, had a dream of helping and working together with girls. However, she says her dream did not see the light of day immediately. When she was employed by one of the radio stations in Mbale, she was able to buy materials for making reusable pads and that is how she recharged her dream.
In 2017 she started her own project called Elgon Girl Foundation (EGF), where she makes sanitary useable pads for girls in schools and in communities.
“I have been able to supply pads in more than eight schools in Bugisu region, including communities around schools. I have trained more than 400 girls, 20 trainers and four community women groups on how to make sanitary reusable pads, using the cheap and simple materials available in their communities, she says.

Sustainability
Elgon Girl Foundation partners with CASA Foundation to facilitate the girl- child education. She also works with schools, communities and stakeholders to support the project financially and attracts volunteers to make pads.

Challenges
Nabutiti says among the challenges that affect her project is shortage of funds. “Our goal is to distribute pads to girls in at least 15 schools in each district. We want to extend this service to other districts in Uganda but we are limited by finance,” she says.
She also says the project requires more machinery to speed up the process of making more pads. She says she plans to produce 1,000 pads each day.

Her appeal
Nabutiti together with other activists appeal to policy makers to consider scrapping taxes on companies that make pads in Uganda to make them accessible to even the unprivileged girls across the country.
She also called upon government to partner with the organisations in the business of facilitating girl-child education to help girls to stay in school. She also urges leaders to join the organisation to address the plight of the girl-child.

Education background
Nabutiti started her primary education at Kiswa primary school in Kampala, she joined her secondary at Elgon view in Tororo and later travelled to Kenya for further studies. She added that she was given a chance by one of her school directors who mentored her in to what she is now
Besides being a journalist, she said she is a businesswoman who operates a boutique in Mbale Town.