Pachamama’s New Year resolutions
THE PACHAMAMA PROJECT IN NUMBERS
August 2020 Volunteers: 3
January 2022 Volunteers: 1101
Pacha Pads made: 42,493
Pacha Pads sent out to date: 33,474 supporting 4,184 women and girls dealing with period poverty
Distribution partners: 12 (in Uganda, Athens, Lesbos, Beirut, Bekaa Valley, Turkey, Syria, Swindon, Watford, Washington DC)
Supporting refugees in seven countries (Greece, Lebanon, Syria, Turkey, UK, US and Uganda)
Volunteers in nine countries (Austria, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, South Africa, UK, US)
Refugee Pacha Clubs in Beirut, Lebanon and Lesvos, Greece
Pachamama ambassadors in four countries (UK, US, Italy and France)
NEWS
4,000 Pacha Pads were sent to Uganda just before Christmas to an organisation called Pass it on Trust.
The Pads will go to 500 school girls who will no longer have to miss out on an education because of their periods. The two schools we are supplying have a 60% absentee rate due to period poverty and by providing everyone with our pads, we hope that number will go down to 0.
We are looking forward to sharing their feedback when the pads get to their
destination in about three months.
In the last newsletter (October) we put out a call for pads to fulfil our most recent Lebanon order – well this incredible group did not let us down and we had what we needed within a few days. To date, we have now sent out 33,474 pads, 22,836 of which have gone to Lebanon. 76% of menstruating women and girls in Lebanon (including the refugee population) are struggling to afford sanitary products.
The FreeShop has reported that our Pacha Pads are among the most popular items in their shop and are fulfilling an incredible need. The women do not need tokens to choose pads from the FreeShop and they are completely free.
Alice, founder of The Free Shop reported that during a recent distribution, one of the women started to cry when she received the pads. She had been having to cut up her child’s perfectly good clothing to use as sanitary protection and was incredibly relieved to receive a set of Pacha Pads.
Our beautiful bags of eight pads represent dignity for the next three to five years.
Alice, who launched and runs the charity, posts regularly on Instagram on the work of the Free Shop, its refugee staff, how they work, where the donations go and about the conditions the people it serves are living in. You can follow them @TheFreeShopLebanon.
Alice has put in an order for our Pacha Pads to supply up to 1,000 women a month. That’s 8,000 pads a month. So how are we going to do that? It’s a big ask but we consider it a worthy challenge.
We’ll be:
-using every media outreach opportunity
-reaching out to schools and universities directly to set up Pacha Clubs
-posting our volunteering opportunity far and wide directly on relevant sites and via social media
-fundraising to cover shipping and fabric
Afghanistan
Ella continues to raise money for “Feeding Families”, a life-saving initiative she set up with her Afghan friend Sedighe whose mum and sisters in Herat are putting together food parcels to feed families who would otherwise starve. These are mainly families whose breadwinners were the women who are now unable to work and support their children. 26 families are currently given life-saving groceries every month including: rice, pasta, oil, canned tomatoes and some cash to buy bread and vegetables. With inflation as it currently stands, it costs £15 per month to feed each family. Anyone wanting more information should contact Ella on instagram @ellalamberttoday or via email, feeding.families@outlook.com.
COUNTRY UPDATES
LEBANON
The FreeShop, Bekaa Valley:
At Pachamama HQ, we’re collecting donations for two shipments in February to the FreeShop. We have been asked again for children’s clothes and shoes, adult shoes, new pants/knickers, second hand bras, blankets. We already have a campervan full ready to sort. We will be sending all the Pacha Pads in stock – that currently stands at 6,000 pads - but we will send whatever we have at HQ at the point that we head off to the collection point.
WingWoman, Beirut
Ella was delighted to meet WingWoman’s Mellie in person in London before Christmas and took her a suitcase full of pads and fabrics for making pads for her to take back to Beirut. We’ll be sending more supplies with the next shipment to Lebanon in February. Ella’s shout out for fabric on social media over Christmas has already generated some donations.
GREECE:
Lesvos:
The Pacha Club that Ella started continues to support two refugee women from the Moria 2.0 camp. The NGOs, One Happy Family and Maker's Space, continue to provide a safe and welcoming space out of camp for the sewers to use.
We sent fleece, fabric and kam snaps from HQ to support this venture and will continue to keep the ladies supplied. The income this brings them means they can save for tickets to leave Greece, once they have their papers, or to pay their passport fees for their family, or buy luggage so that they don’t have to travel with their worldly belongings in black bin bags – which is what most refugees leaving the island have to resort to.
UGANDA:
We were contacted by Jackie in December asking if we could do anything to help a project she supports in Uganda. “Pass it on Trust” is youth-led registered not-for-profit organisation that promotes education for children, to act as a tool of change in the fight against early marriage. It’s stated mission:
1.To reduce the number of child marriages, by encouraging girls and boys to embrace and participate fully in education in the rural hotspots of Uganda.
2.Equipping communities for sustainable growth through education
3.To develop social entrepreneurship and personal life-skills among young mothers and their dependents.
4.To empower women to make sound and meaningful decisions for their households and community at large.
The group had started making pads themselves and said it would take a year to help a small group and could we help by sending a few pads over. They were overwhelmed when we committed to sending 4,000 pads – enough for an entire community. They need more for other groups they support and we’ll send more when we can, but, when our Pacha Pads have completed their three-month journey – they will enable a whole community of girls to go to school.
Pass it on Trust CEO Hellen will send us photos and updates when the pads arrive so we can see the impact they have and how they are received.
Whilst there is no running water in these communities, the women and girls have access to private spaces and an easy and unlimited supply of water to wash the pads. They will have our information leaflets and will receive information on how to use and wash the pads and on menstrual health and hygiene.
FUNDRAISING
Have you signed up to easyfundraising yet? If you ever shop online, it’s such an easy way to help us raise money in a way that will cost you nothing. All you have to do is go to easyfundraising and search for the retailer you are looking to shop with. If they are on the list, you then access their site here and we will get a percentage of the value of your spend. It’s generally tiny, but it all adds up.
Retailers on the list include: Hermes, Amazon, Argos, Uswitch, ebay, booking.com, John Lewis, Asos, Asda – and loads more.
SPREADING THE WORD
Since our last newsletter, Bristol University sent out a press release on Ella and the project. It was picked up by the news agency, PA, and resulted in over 200 articles, including on the BBC website, in the Independent and in foreign media too. Ella was also interviewed by BBC Radio Bristol between Christmas and New Year. Our media coverage has been central to reaching new volunteers and attracting donations.
Thanks to Essex Pachamamas Ruth and Helen, who organised a stall at a school Christmas Fayre to spread the word, that generated a number of new Duke of Edinburgh student and other volunteers.
Thanks also to Coco who saw our media coverage and contacted us to offer to sell some pads (made specially to sell by Pachamama Helen Heard) at the Bristol Christmas street market. Not only did she sell around 100 pads, but also donated 10% of the profits of her stall to us and bought the remaining stock to give to friends. Amazing!
What you can do:
• post on your neighbourhood social media platforms (such as Facebook and Nextdoor) about i) fabric, if you need it, ii) call for volunteers
• ask your local school/college if they’d be interested in talking to us about i) talks ii) Pacha Clubs/Duke of Edinburgh volunteering
•contact your local WI about i) talks ii) volunteers
•contact local church groups who may run craft clubs
•print off the attached poster and ask your local fabric shops to display it
•if you belong to a club that fundraises for charities, please consider Pachamama!
Meanwhile, if you follow us on social media, please share our posts – it really does help.
Instagram, Facebook and Twitter: @ThePachaProject
HOUSEKEEPING
Please include a note with your parcels to include your name, the number of pads/bags and letting us know if they are made with Zorb or PUL (as we store these separately and aim to give everyone at least two super-absorbent pads in their kit).
Bags:
The minimum bag size is 22cm x 26cm and can be made of anything washable.
Pacha Pads checklist:
-absorbency (minimum 20ml. You can add further layers of towel if necessary)
-robustness (the core and all the layers are secured all the way around and attached to the main body)
-size (check against the actual size in the instructions, rather than trusting your printer which may print out different dimensions)
-Wings in the middle (in the Phoenix pattern, check the wings are central on the body)
-Fabric is good as new or new (check there is no colour fade or wear. We can supply fabric from our donated stock on request. Also, please avoid using plain white/cream where possible)
-Fleece (new, dark-coloured anti-pil polar fleece for the top layer. We can supply fleece on request in the UK. Internal layer can be second-hand fleece)
PUL/Zorb
For anyone using either PUL (waterproof layer) and/or Zorb, here’s how to use them:
-Original Zorb goes in place of the towel, otherwise no change (check absorbency)
-4D PUL Zorb – in place of towel and you can leave out the second fleece layer (or keep)
-PUL only – bottom internal layer
THE PACHAMAMA COMMUNITY
We would strongly advise everyone to join the private Pachamama Facebook Group (you don’t need to be active on Facebook but you need an account) – not only will you see the latest news on the project and tips and advice from sewers on there, but it is such a positive, supportive, lovely community to be part of. Do also follow @thefreeshoplebanon on Instagram and see where many of our pads (and our clothing donations) go.
Otherwise, please email us whenever you have any questions.
WHAT NEXT?
Still no news from the charity commission but we were warned that there would be delays due to Covid. We are already looking for and speaking to organisations about funding opportunities and drafting grant applications so that as soon as we have converted, we can move quickly. If anyone hears of any grants or funds that might be relevant to us, please let us know.
THANK YOU SO MUCH
We couldn’t do what we do without:
Smoothie London 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. Amazing presents...
BB Pads – commercial reusable sanitary pads donating 10% of their profits to us
SugaCouture another small jewellery business 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
Coco for selling pads and raising our profile at the Bristol Christmas market
Yorkshire Fabric shop for donating fabric for us to send to Wing Woman
The generous individuals who have donated via our GoFundMe page
Liz Walsh for our brilliant website
Beth Rowland for our gorgeous logo
All our amazing volunteers and their families who get involved!
A MESSAGE FROM ELLA
A further 13,000 pads have been delivered since our October newsletter, taking the total to 33,474, serving over 4,000 people. But we haven’t just taken thousands of vulnerable women and girls out of period poverty, we have taken huge steps to normalise the conversation around periods, to raise the profile of refugees and put a face to these women who, just like many of us, have hopes, dreams, children to protect and care for, and periods to deal with every month. Together, we have created a community of compassionate, supportive, motivated people and together, we are making a difference.
Having started as just a lockdown project, I could never have imagined what this project could achieve and how many hearts it would touch. Thank you to every single one of you who makes our mission possible. I am so proud. Here’s to an exciting, sanitary pad-filled 2022!!
Wishing you all a Happy, Healthy, New Year!
“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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