THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT
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On March 8, 2013, International Women's Day, we officially kicked off our crowd funding campaign, "Pennies for Pasand." With the help of over 30 donors, we raised over $3,000! We're so excited to convert this money to impact and increase access to sanitary protection and feminine health education in India. Because every girl deserves health, dignity, and choice. PERIOD.
One week every month. To women, periods are a predictable annoyance. But, for the most part, the women at the top of the economic pyramid have no idea that, for millions of women not so unlike them, menstruation is not just irritating or an inconvenience. In India, a woman’s period arrives with heavy cultural and social baggage. When a low-income Indian girl starts her period, her mother will likely refuse to explain what is happening to her. She will improvise by tearing up old sari cloth for rags. She may miss up to 5 days of school every month because she has no way of reliably absorbing her flow. She may fall behind. She may join the group of over 140 million Indian women who suffer from symptoms of gynecological morbidity.
The lack of access to affordable sanitary products affects over 87.5 million schoolgirls in India and puts them at an extraordinary disadvantage. It is here that Pasand enters the market. Our mission is to offer young women the opportunity to make choices for their own health and dignity by engineering locally-made, affordable sanitary pads from natural, regionally available fibers. Pasand is in the business of changing the ingrained use of unsanitary traditional methods for absorbing menstrual flow. Our key weapon is education, a tool that, creatively implemented, will allow us to achieve both our social and entrepreneurial goals. This summer, we plan to launch our pilot program in rural Orissa, which is critical to our success and better understanding our market. By year five of full operation we aim to have sold 60 million pads, reaching 100,000 girls across India. The word pasand means “a desirable choice” in Hindi. For the girls we will sell to, Pasand means having the choice to go to school without shame. It means having the choice to be comfortable every week of the month. It means having the choice to learn about your body instead of being taught to fear or ignore it. It means making the choice to live a healthier life. Our ultimate goal is to change habits and reach schoolgirls en masse, giving girls the choice to go to school, maintain their dignity, and lead healthy, fulfilling lives. Period. - The Pasand Team |
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