The Pachamama Project in numbers:
Volunteers: 2000
Distribution partners: 12
Countries where we have distributed: Greece, Latvia, Lebanon, Pakistan, Syria, Turkey, Uganda, UK, Ukraine, USA
Pacha Pads distributed: 100,000
People taken out of period poverty for up to five years: 13,000
Introducing our trustees:
Heidi Lambert, Chair
Ruth Smith (Essex volunteer)
Helen Heard (Essex volunteer)
Alice Corrigan (founder and Chair of The Free Shop Lebanon)
Joy Coisnard (US Pachamama ambassador)
Message from Ella:
It’s been a while – huge apologies – but I have now finished my university finals and can give my full attention to Pachamama.
We have two major milestones to celebrate: we have charity status (achieved with massive input and support from Pete Smith (volunteer Ruth’s husband) and have sent more than 100,000 Pacha Pads out into the world.
I am so proud of what this group has achieved so far and, now that I can dedicate my time to the project, am extremely excited for what we can do together going forward. Period poverty is experienced by 500m people globally, 26m of whom are refugees and displaced people. I have the ambition for Pachamama to make a significant impact on these numbers and to work collaboratively around the world with NGOs and other grassroots organisations to solve this eminently solvable problem. It’s a big ambition but this project started out from an idea from the sofa during lockdown, with no sewing skills and no sewing machine – run for the past three years in our spare time. Every single Pachamama volunteer plays their invaluable part in moving the dial on this problem. I really believe that, together, we can make a tangible difference, not just to the individuals who receive our gorgeous pads, but to the problem of period poverty worldwide.
RAISE A GLASS EVENT!
14th August
18h30-20h00 BST
Join us online to celebrate 100,000 pads, charity status and our third birthday!
Ella will present on Pachamama and we will be joined by our partners, who will talk about their organisations and our work with them. This will be a great opportunity to hear directly from Pass It on Trust Uganda, The Free Shop Lebanon, Abaseen Foundation (Pakistan) and Food Justice (USA) - organisations who receive your pads and bags or benefit from other support you provide. Please join us!
Register free here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-pachamama-project-raise-a-glass-tickets-675921809327?aff=oddtdtcreator
Some quick asks:
To help us recruit more volunteers please could you go on this link: https://g.page/r/CdyVexs5wgbKEBM/review
and leave a review on your volunteer experience with us? This will help raise the profile of Pachamama online, drive more people to our website and, hopefully, encourage more volunteers to sign up. Thank you
Outreach - schools
Ella already has a number of school talks set up and we aim to get around the country and do as many of these as possible. They are a brilliant way to raise the profile of the issue of period poverty, tackle the taboo and encourage students and young people to make Pacha Pads – particularly if they are doing the Duke of Edinburgh challenges.
Redmaid's High in Bristol for example have enlisted 30 students and two teachers to form a Friday lunch time club (pictured to the left) and Concord College in Shropshire have been using our patterns to get pads to Ethiopia (on the right).
If you have a link to a school who may be interested in a talk, please let us know.
Now for an update!
Lebanon
Huge thanks to The Dalia and Ramzi Charitable Trust which has awarded us some funding this year towards our efforts in Lebanon.
In addition to helping with the shipping of 30,000 pads (22,000 of which have just arrived in the Bekaa Valley), we have funding to recruit someone one day per week to conduct outreach in the local community to ensure that women suffering period poverty in the Bekaa Valley are aware of our pads and are educated on how to use and care for them. There is also funding for Ella to travel to Lebanon. She is planning a month-long trip from mid-September and will go with Alice (Free Shop) and Melissa (Pads4Refugees). Together, they plan to meet other NGOs working in the area and establish as much collaboration as possible. Ella is planning workshops with the local community, to show how to make Pacha Pads and to set up Menstrual Hygiene Management sessions. She will also be meeting recipients of the pads and participating in distributions. Ella is also hoping to meet with another organisation, who has been introduced to us by volunteer Kay Ross, and which also operates in the Bekaa Valley. She will also be meeting students at International College in Beirut to support them in launching their reusable pad making campaign.
Filling a 40-foot container for The Free Shop
Meanwhile, Helen and Ruth (trustees) did an incredible job putting in most of the hours, supporting Heidi, husband Matt, Ukrainian guests Katya and Rostik and any other Lambert family members in the vicinity over the two months - to pull together the shipment of nearly 1,000 boxes of donations for the Free Shop in April and May – collecting, sorting, packing and processing. Thanks also to Maria, Jim and Lyn who came down to help, to Lesley and Michael for storing hundreds of boxes for us and to Big Yellow Storage for their continued support.
Chelmsford’s Meadows Shopping Centre provided us with TWO free spaces to sort donations and pack more than 20 pallets for two months, for which we’re so grateful. The local Primark lent us pallet trucks and a team of friends turned up on shipping day, along with Free Shop friend, Elliot, with this forklift licence, to get it all loaded. It was an incredible effort. Alice stayed at Pachamama HQ for a week to get everything organised and do all the paperwork. It was pretty stressful, to be honest, and the weather forecast was dreadful but….the first rain drop fell as the last pallet was loaded. After a frenetic three and a half hours of loading, we closed the door on nearly 1,000 boxes of clothing and blankets and 22,000 Pacha Pads and 2,750 kit bags. The container has arrived safely. We can’t wait to see the social media – we have sent some really lovely things, including lots of items sent by you Pachamamas – knitted and crocheted clothes and blankets, quilts, new underwear, bras, good-as-new children’s clothes…We also need to thank the following for organising collections and providing boxes and boxes of great donations:
New Hall School
Widford Lodge School
Little Spring Wonders nursery
Pakistan
We have now sent 11,000 pads to the Abaseen Foundation in Pakistan. Here is a message from Shahida Hanif, Abaseen Trustee leading on Womens Health:
'The delivery of over 10k Pachmama pads has been greatly received by the women and girls in Pakistan. The pads have given the females dignity and an opportunity to live normally. Girls are able to attend school and women are able to care for their families. Not having any adequate sanitary products had such a negative impact on the lives of women. Pachamama pads were distributed in the flood hit areas and the feedback from the men and women was they were very grateful for the hygiene packs. It really helped the women. Thank you Ella and all the wonderful team from the women of Pakistan. ❤
Our partnership with Pachamama will only increase in the future. This partnership will help improve women's lives and give the girls of Pakistan an opportunity to improve their lives and take part in education without being restricted with menstrual hygiene issues. Abaseen Foundation looks forward some great projects with Pachamama.'
Uganda
We have now sent 10,000 pads to Pass It On Trust in Uganda. Feedback following the initial distribution of 4,000 was that they loved the pads but needed more than eight in a kit. The second shipment was made up of only waterproof pads (still eight per kit) and we also sent additional pads for the original beneficiaries. We are waiting for feedback to see if having them all waterproof means they can manage with the eight, or if they still need more.
USA
We are desperate for more US-based volunteers to supply the women and girls supported by Food Justice DMV in Washington DC. Please spread the word in any way you can! Here is a photo of some beautiful pads made by our US volunteers.
Kenya
Pachamama volunteer, Heather, told us about one of her friends, Mike, who has been working for many years with a volunteer group in Kenya, helping to build and support schools and health facilities.
Recently, the group has been building and extending a Health Clinic in Mbara to include a maternity unit. Improving community health facilities is a priority, with school toilets built and clean water supplies secured. Here, as in many parts of the world, barriers to girls’ schooling sees girls dropping out of education as they get older.
Period poverty is a key factor, with stigma and lack of pads meaning that girls miss far too much of their education and become more vulnerable to early childhood marriage and teenage pregnancy.
The group had been researching washable pads as the basis for sustainable production. It led to a discussion with Heather and the Kenya group were impressed by the our designs - better than any they had previously found. Starter packs were developed for the pilot projects with templates, instructions matched with ‘exploded’ samples of the pads at different stages of production as well as scissors, snaps/tools, thread etc. As of June 2023, three projects are now up and running in the region.
The first pilot ran in a secondary school in Sigor where the Headteacher and two members of staff were keen to be involved. A treadle sewing machine was bought and a starter pack supplied. There has been huge progress. A young girl in Form 2 happened to be an expert seamstress and, with the help of her teacher, trained other girls in pad production. They have secured supplies of fabric and other materials locally and funding from charity events etc provide the pads at no cost to the girls. Each bag also includes several pairs of pants and a bar of laundry soap.
With that success, two more projects were set up with sewing machines, starter packs and materials. Both are linked to the Mbara Health Project, with one at a Secondary girls’ school and the other at the Mbara Maternity Clinic.
A professional seamstress has been employed to train girls at the school and is based at the clinic to produce pads for the community.
The hope is to establish this as a long term, sustainable enterprise with washable pads sold at a fraction of the cost of disposable ones. Linked to the Health Education programme, including hygiene and sex education, it will help to keep girls safe and well.
This is a brilliant project and we’re delighted to have played our very small part.
Tanzania
In the same vein, a volunteer’s daughter has travelled to Tanzania this summer to set up a pad making programme. We have provided some fabric and our templates and instructions to get them going.
For the last 6 months Isla, Katie, Charlotte and Ella have been working on setting up the first reusable sanitary pad production in Tanzania. Using our templates they held workshops to learn how to make the pads in the UK so that they could pass on the skill to the girls at Kyela Polytechnic College. Since being in Kyela they have taught 25 girls the full process of making the Pachamama reusable sanitary pads. They have used donated materials from Pachamama and other sources to produce over 100 pads that will be distributed to the Kyela Polytechnic College girls and other secondary schools in the area.
A message from the girls:
'This is crucial as girls often are unable to attend school during their periods and therefore are missing out on vital education. We hope that in the future the pad production will continue at Kyela Polytechnic College becoming a business and providing pads to girls so they can make the most of their education and opportunities. '
We're so pleased we have been able to support such a fantastic new project! To follow their progress find their instagram page at @kyela.kcei
Fundraising
Special shout out to Ken, 76 in Duns, Scotland, and to Alexa, 11, in Sussex who have raised and are raising funds this year for us – both cycling – different ends of the country – bit of an age gap – both making a major difference to Pachamama. Huge thanks to you both. Alexa raised over £600 over Easter and Ken is cycling 3,000 miles this year and has a gofundme page to help raise money to cover our growing shipping costs.
If you have links with any club that fundraises, any WI, Rotary Club, university society, school, please alert them to the Pachamama cause! Postage, shipping and materials have gone up considerably and, of course, as we grow, so do our costs. And if you're a cyclist get in touch!
Easyfundraising
This is a really easy way to raise a bit of money for us. Whenever you shop online, access your online shop via the easyfundraising site and we get a percentage of your spend. It’s pennies – but they all add up and don’t cost you a thing. And there's everything on there - even your tesco grocery shopping.
Corporate volunteering days
If you work for a company that allows for volunteering days, we want to hear from you! This is a great way, not only to make some more pads, but to engage with a new group of people and spread the word more widely about what we do.
Our partners, past and present
These are the fabulous groups who have reached out to us asking for us to supply the communities they work with. Please follow them on social media to see what they’re about:
Health Impact, Lebanon
WingWoman, Lebanon (who make pads to sell to NGOs to give to refugees. We supply fabric and supplies when we can)
PassItOnTrust – Uganda
Rainbow Project – Turkey
Goods For Good – UK
The Abasseen Foundation – Pakistan
Yorghas Foundation – Poland (Ukaine)
RefuGym, Greece
IHA, Greece
Food Justice DMV, USA
New Partners
We are launching a new partnership with the JNRC in Rome, Italy. The JNRC is a day centre for refugees and asylum seekers to relax, receive advice and access support. The organisation will be doing a trial in September, giving our Italian made pads to 25 individuals. We are then planning a trip to Rome in November to run some workshops, teach groups how to make the pads and meet with their medical lead to organise menstrual hygiene education sessions. Will keep you posted!
Housekeeping
HQ HOLIDAY DATES
PLEASE NOTE THAT HQ WILL BE ON HOLIDAY 25TH AUGUST TO 9TH SEPTEMBER.
Friends
Please check the “friends” page on our website: https://www.thepachamamaproject.org/friends.html
If you are not listed and have asked to be – or maybe you didn’t tick the box on the volunteer form but have changed your mind – please let us know so we can add you or your group.
And please remember to add a note to your parcels with the numbers of pads and bags and labelling any PUL/waterproof pads. This really helps us at HQ.
THANK YOU SO MUCH!
We couldn’t do what we do without:
The Dalia and Ramzi Charitable Trust.
The Ruislip Manor Cottage Society, who made a generous donation in honour of Ella’s grandfather, Mike, who died last year.
Lynn, our Bristol Ambassador for supporting local volunteers with fabric and storing and getting pads to HQ.
Joy, our US Ambassador for managing volunteers in the US and a Pachamama trustee.
Alessia, our Italian Ambassador for growing the network in Italy.
Astrid who is launching Pachamama in The Netherlands.
Helen and Ruth who are incredibly active behind the scenes, not just making insane numbers of pads, but also supporting us at HQ, producing the written and video instructions, spreading the word and collecting and sorting for Free Shop – giving hours to the most recent Lebanon shipment - keeping Heidi sane-ish and for agreeing to become Pachamama trustees.
Michael and Lesley who provided extra local storage when we out-grew our Big Yellow unit.
Maria, Jim and Lyn for helping with the FreeShop shipment.
Everyone who has set up sewing groups.
Jack Pitts at the University of Bristol for championing Pachamama with the media and getting us valuable press coverage that generates volunteers and funds.
Grandad Nick for attaching thousands of Kam Snaps!
Grandma Julia for being the third ever Pachamama and for continuing to support us making pads.
Big Yellow Storage – for free storage in Chelmsford, Essex – and for returning a little sanity and space to HQ.
Sue and her team at the Meadows Shopping Centre for TWO units to sort and ship from.
Smoothie London who is also celebrating their third birthday this year for their continued support in donating 10% of their profits to us and for creating a special Pachamama huggie earring. Please check out their collection – beautiful earrings at amazing prices.
Shema for regular donations from her Belly dancing classes.
BB Pads – commercial reusable sanitary pads donating 10% of their profits to us.
SugaCouture who are donating 10% of their profits to us.
Rosi Skinfood - wonderful organic skincare – donating 10% from online purchases when you use the code “PACHA” at the checkout.
The generous individuals who have donated via our GoFundMe page – special mention for 11-year-old Alexa and volunteer Barbie’s husband, Ken, who is cycling 3,000 miles this year with a target of raising £3,000 towards shipping.
The Continence People for fabric off-cuts.
Sewing Bee Fabrics for discounted PUL when we need it.
Liz Walsh for our brilliant website.
Beth Rowland for our gorgeous logo.
All our amazing volunteers and their families who get involved.
“Never Underestimate the power of a small group of committed people to change the world”
Margaret Mead, US Anthropologist 1901-1978
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