A choral music enthusiast, Bertha Blessing Cudjoe, has donated sanitary pads to some schoolgirls in the Zakarikorpe Seventh Day Adventist Basic School, in Kasoa.
The donation, which was to celebrate her birthday, benefited over 200 young girls in the school, Basic A and B, who have attained their puberty ages.
On Tuesday, July 16, 2024 the founder of Pad Train, Bertha Blessing Cudjoe, with the support of some friends, visited the Zakarikorpe SDA Basic School located in Kasoa, Oklu Nkwanta, to put smiles on the faces of the young girls with her donation.
MOTIVATION
Speaking to this reporter on what motivated her, Bertha, who has done the birthday donation two times in a roll, said the first in 2023 was a personal donation but she was moved by the outcome and decided to continue.
“It was a personal donation on my birthday [in 2023], but upon getting there, I decided to take it up as a project,” she told The Chronicle.
She explained that she realised that the young girls in remote areas, even in the capital, Accra, need help, not to talk of other parts of the country, as the media space is awash with reports on such issues.
According to her, though the teachers of the first school she visited to do her donation were helpful, that was not enough.
In view of that, she thought “an extra hand would not be bad and I was with a pad company at that time, so I took advantage of it.”
SUPPORT
Bertha hopes to continue with the philanthropic work on a larger scale but does not have the financial backing. “I just pray I get a sponsor so I can reach out to more of them [young girls],” she added.
Bertha said she observed during the donation that some of the young girls who are in Junior High School are naive about the stage of their life. She said some had not used the sanitary towel before.
“These are JHS students. So you can imagine the number of years they have been menstruating without pads, not to talk of the health issues that come with it,” she remarked.
She continued that, “People don’t believe it when I tell them some kids are using ‘rags’ for their period.”
She expressed gratitude to her friends for contributing to make the donation possible.
She plans to donate again next year and welcomes support from individuals and corporate organisations.
