A community project aimed at restoring the dignity of young girls in Kensington is under way with volunteers hard at work collecting 5000 panties.
The Panty Drive, spearheaded by ward councillor Cheslyn Steenberg, answered calls for help from schools and organisations to assist teens to stay in school.
Speaking to the Daily Voice, Steenberg explains: “The Panty Drive comes from a project known as the Butterfly Programme that we started several months ago amid calls for help from the community.
“Among some of the issues identified were teen pregnancies, absenteeism from school and several others.
“We teamed up with the Community Police Forum and local actress Gill Levenberg and the Cape Cultural Collective who did a fantastic outreach programme with the girls.”
Steenberg says he got a moerse skrik when he heard about the extreme steps girls are forced to take as they cannot afford basic hygiene items.
He explains: “I was delivering socks to Sunderland Primary School for the girls when I was asked if I could help with panties. Here I heard bone-chilling and absolutely horrific stories about what our jong meisies are going through.
“I was informed that our girls are suffering and don’t even have panties.
“When they menstruate some of them are forced to take old socks and push it inside themselves or even use face masks to stop the blood from leaking out.
“I was so shocked at how our girls are being reduced to this.”
Over the last week, Steenberg has been marketing the drive and says they are looking to equip over 100 meisies aged between 14 and 21.
He says the crippling psychological side effects faced by the girls have a detrimental impact on their education as many simply stay at home to avoid the embarrassment.
Steenberg adds: “This is not just about sanitary towels or tampons because even if they have a pad they have nothing to place it on.
“Many of the girls are also using old t-shirts and even more shockingly they have even admitted to not even having soap to wash with.
“So for the drive, we are looking at sanitary packs which includes not only underwear and sanitary equipment but toiletries to help them keep clean and restore their dignity.”
To date they have collected 100 panties and are now calling on Capetonians to help them restore hope.
If you would like to help, call Steenberg on 083 543 1344.
monique.duval@inl.co.za