The Yorkits initiative provides inspiration, templates and instructions. These enable sewers in Addis Ababa to make and distribute the washable feminine hygiene kits out of locally sourced materials.
The Ethiopian youngsters are rescued from begging on the streets and given food, shelter, medical attention and education as part of the Saltergate Children’s Home project.
In some cases, the widowed mothers with their babies and small children are also ‘rescued’, with one former seamstress now making the kits with a donated sewing machine. It is hoped, with the guidance and assistance of the Saltergate Home team, that she will be able to help older girls to take on this project and make their own kits and, maybe, sell, them to other local women.
Rotary York Ainsty has been cooperating on this project with Rotary Bradford Blaize, who have long supported the Saltergate Home, which is now catering for more than 60 children in this war-torn area of Ethiopia - an area that even UNICEF, Save the Children and Oxfam are struggling to get into to help.
Yorkits is a Rotary-run community 'hands-on' project which involves a range of volunteers coming together to make washable, easy-to-use, feminine hygiene kits for girls in developing countries - and it goes from strength to strength.
In many developing countries, due to poverty, girls have no feminine hygiene provision and cannot go to school during menstruation, therefore missing out large parts of their education. Yorkits, therefore, aims to help by providing them with access to uninterrupted schooling.
Yorkits runs workshops and uses brightly patterned cottons to make up the eco-friendly, low-cost cleverly designed kits, which are packed into attractive drawstring bags and which last each girl typically for up to three years.
It's work supporting the Saltergate Home project means that Ethiopia is now the 13th African country where Yorkits is working to change the lives of women and girls.
An opportunity to find out more:
Yorkits now active in Addis Adaba, Ethiopia - Rotary York Ainsty (rotary-ribi.org)
About Saltergate Children’s Home sourced from their website, 25 July 2021
Every year in Ethiopia hundreds of children are abandoned or orphaned. When this happens the prospects are bleak. With no welfare support thousands of children live on the streets and rely on begging to survive. One such child, abandoned at a few days old in a hospital in Addis Ababa, faced an uncertain future until a doctor desperate to find a home for the baby called us – ‘please help’ – and the work of Saltergate Children’s Home began. We called the baby Amanuel and he is now a lively little boy.
SCH, Ethiopia is establishing secure, legally-based homes in Ethiopia where children are sheltered, clothed, fed and have access to medical facilities and a progressive education. Our homes provide a loving, caring environment founded on Christian principles, respect for culture and the strength of the family.
The charity raises funds primarily in the UK and USA and the trustees, who have wide experience in education and business management in England and overseas, ensure that our constitution provides a robust framework for all that we do.
Our close ties with communities and other charities in Ethiopia ensures that a supportive network is in place on the ground. In Addis Ababa we have an Operations Manager and Children’s Home Manager who oversee the work. Communication between the homes in Ethiopia and the trustees is regular and ongoing.