Solidarity project takes shape

Elizabeth Joseph



Two young women from Rehoboth started an organisation called Your Pain Your Blessing at the beginning of this year.

Their main purpose is to hand out sanitary pads to girls and women who cannot afford them.

Anthea van Rensburg (22) and Ma-ri Scheepers (15), both natives of Rehoboth, are the forces behind this change.

“The name Your Pain Your Blessing comes from the pain a woman or young girl has to go through. We are not just talking about the monthly pain of menstruation, but the pain until she finally gives birth," Scheepers said.

"We want to change girls' lives. We want no girl to have to stay away from school for a day because she is menstruating and cannot afford sanitary pads. We believe that education is extremely important to ensure a better future, not only for herself, but also for her family,” Van Rensburg added.

Their goal for the remainder of the year is to donate 1 000 packs of pads. They currently have about 500 packs at hand, while 200 packs have already been donated.

“We are working on MentalityGirl for 2021, where we are working on strengthening and nurturing the mentality of young girls in Namibia,” Scheepers said.

The start

“The project idea stemmed from Anthea and I realising one month that we actually have a luxury. We can change our sanitary pads every time with the comfort of knowing there is more. Not every girl has that luxury or has access to sanitary pads, so that was our motto, our adrenaline to change that.

“To give a girl comfort, so that she knows she can go out in comfort and confidence knowing that she is covered.”

Some of the sponsors of the initiative include Marthinus De Waal, Ubykotex and Jo-marrie van…

Permanent change

Your Pain Your Blessing aims to help about 500 girls. They did their first survey with girls from Block E at Rehoboth. On the same day, they handed out two packs of sanitary pads each to 60 girls.

"We bought the pads out of our own pockets and hope that in the future we can receive more donations and distribute more, because the problem is much bigger than just Block E in Rehoboth,” they said.

While doing the survey, they asked questions to girls in the age groups of 10 to 13, 14 to 17 and 18 to 20.

They realised that the girls who took part in the survey did not stay out of school when they menstruated, but that they did use alternative materials and items to serve as sanitary pads.

"The youngest group has not yet used alternative items. Most girls in this group have also not yet started their period. About 50% of the middle age group had already used it and of the latter group, many more of the girls used alternative items. They are forced to use socks or toilet paper,” Van Rensburg said.

An encouraging word

This dynamic duo wishes to leave a positive message to their younger generations by helping them realise that real life starts outside of one’s comfort zone.

“Your comfort zone is turning your dreams and goals into dead corpses. Never die with your dreams and goals. Achieve them,” Scheepers said.

“Negative experiences and emotions are part of the human experience. It is good to accept them and learn from them. You may not always have control over a bad situation, but you can adopt a positive mental attitude to overcome the negative,” Van Rensburg added.

Fun facts about the founders

Scheepers writes motivational pieces

Van Rensburg loves to sing and is a self-taught make-up artist

Scheepers is only 15 years old and is a mental health activist.

Van Rensburg rides her bicycle with her dog and has swallowed a whistle.

Scheepers grinds her teeth when she forgets something.