By Constantine Patrick, Reverend Dr. Melchizedek Keoye, Jolie Claire, Godfrey Karema and Carine Akure, Dufatanye Organization (GLFx Nyanza)
All photos below courtesy of the Dufatanye Organization.
In Rwanda, menstrual health has long been a silent crisis.
For many girls and young women, sanitary products are unaffordable or simply unavailable, forcing them to miss classes or drop out of school early. Many resort to using old clothes, rags or even leaves, leaving them vulnerable to infection.
This reinforces a cycle of poverty and inequality.
We’ve developed a powerful, community-led solution: biodegradable, reusable sanitary pads made from a locally abundant agricultural byproduct: banana fibers.
In Rwanda, an estimated 20 percent of schoolgirls miss up to 50 days of school per year due to not having access to menstrual products.
Missing school can lead to poor academic performance and, ultimately, a significantly higher dropout rate. A sanitary pad is not just a hygiene product; it’s an educational passport.
Inspired by the region’s abundant banana trees, our team partnered with engineers from a social enterprise group, The Minazi Impact, as well as researchers from Imperial College London, to research, design and develop pads that are eco-friendly and culturally appropriate.
We also consulted local women’s groups, many of whom are survivors of the Rwandan genocide. We wanted to ensure these pads meet these women’s needs and that they would be the ones creating them – thus giving them jobs.
“Managing my menstrual hygiene used to be a daily struggle,” says Ineza Sifa, a 20-year-old mother of two from the village of Nyamagana. “I had to rely on old cloths that leaked, caused discomfort and left me feeling ashamed.”
“I often missed work, community events and even church. These pads have restored my dignity and allow me to fully participate in daily life.”
Our process begins not in a factory but in banana groves in the heart of our community.
The production process is ingeniously simple and is led entirely by local women.
Every Saturday, around 20 women aged 20 to 50 gather in Nyanza town center to collect banana stems from local farmers. The weather is often hot and dusty, but the women show up smiling, singing and laughing among each other.
They help transport the stems to the Dufatanye center and sort them, giving a second life to what was once considered waste.
At the center, the stems are meticulously stripped to separate the strong, highly absorbent banana fibers from the rest of the plant material.
The fibers are simmered for hours in large pots of clean water over a crackling fire. This not only sterilizes the strands but also tenderizes them until they are as soft as cotton.
After boiling, the fibers are rinsed and laid out under the sun to dry, leaving us with a fluffy, clean material.
Trained women artisans take over, skillfully cutting and layering the purified fibers with soft cotton cloth.
Using sewing machines provided by the project, the artisans stitch the layers together, creating a comfortable, durable and absorbent pad designed to be washed and reused for up to two years.
The pads we create are not sold in local markets or shops. Instead, we distribute them directly to girls and women across several villages.
We hand the pads out to the most vulnerable families for free. For everyone else, they cost just RWF 1,000 (USD 0.70).
In comparison, a pack of imported disposable pads typically costs around RWF 1,500 (USD 1), which is nearly a full day’s wage for a rural household in Rwanda.
Since each of our pads can last for up to two years, the savings are immense.
Sanitary menstrual products are crucial to the physical, psychological and social well-being of women and girls.
Without them, many girls resort to using old rags, leaves, newspaper, ash or even mud – materials that are often unclean and abrasive.
This exposes them to a host of health hazards, such as urinary tract infections and toxic shock syndrome. Clean, effective sanitary products are a frontline defense against these risks.
Furthermore, many conventional pads include plastic and chemicals that trap heat and moisture, which can cause chafing, rashes and dermatitis. The banana fiber pads we create are breathable, hypoallergenic and gentle on the skin.
The psychological toll of inadequate menstrual management is just as damaging as the physical risk.
Being forced to use materials that leak, smell or cause discomfort is deeply humiliating. It erodes a girl’s self-worth and reinforces cultural taboos around menstruation.
Some desperate girls have even engaged in transactional sex to obtain money for pads. This exposes them to a cascade of devastating health risks, including sexually transmitted infections and unwanted pregnancies.
Access to sanitary pads helps secure girls’ sexual, reproductive and mental health while enabling them to participate fully in society.
The health of people cannot be divorced from the health of their environment.
A single conventional plastic pad can take 500 to 800 years to decompose. The cumulative waste from disposable pads creates a massive environmental burden, clogging landfills and polluting waterways.
In a rural context, this problem is even more acute. Without formal waste management systems, plastic pads are often thrown into pit latrines, causing them to fill up faster and contaminate groundwater, or discarded in fields, where they contaminate the soil.
We cannot solve the social problem of period poverty by creating an environmental one.
After the pads have reached the end of their reusable life, they’re not just thrown away; they’re either buried or composted.
To speed up decomposition, the pad is cut into smaller pieces. This breaks up the more densely woven fabric and increases the surface area for microbes to do their work.
The pieces are then added to a compost pile, just like other carbon-rich ‘brown’ materials like dry leaves, straw, or cardboard. This is then mixed with nitrogen-rich ‘green’ materials like kitchen scraps and manure to create healthy, active compost.
Over the next six to 18 months, natural microbes and fungi completely break down the banana and cotton fibers, turning them into nutrient-rich humus.
Because the pads contain bodily fluids, the best practice is to use this compost for non-food plants, such as trees and ornamental flowers, or for general soil restoration, rather than for vegetables. This eliminates any risk of pathogens being passed on.
We offer three-month training programs to teach local women to create these pads from start to finish. As bananas are harvested here year-round, we have a consistent supply of fiber to make pads and offer women consistent work opportunities.
So far, we’ve trained 123 women, and we’re planning to train 16 more this year.
For the vast majority of these women, this is their first formal source of income and will enable them to buy healthier food for their families and pay for school fees – thus increasing their decision-making power.
A mother of four told us: “I used to depend on my husband for everything. Now, when my child is sick, I can buy the medicine myself. This work has given me a voice in my own home.”
We also connect with youth volunteers who work to raise awareness about menstrual health, challenging long-held stigmas in schools and villages.
A team of trained young men and women leads interactive sessions at schools, breaking the ice with stories and activities before explaining the biology of menstruation as a healthy, normal process. They directly address harmful myths and demonstrate how to use and care for reusable pads.
Lastly, we run a peer ambassador program where we train student volunteers to become trusted leaders and ambassadors in their own communities.
These volunteers are the ones who hold quiet conversations with classmates who are missing school, or challenge period shaming at school.
This has a powerful ripple effect as young people educate and empower each other.
Men and community leaders are also actively engaged through open dialogues, helping to break the silence and shame that often surround menstruation.
“I used to struggle every month because I could not afford sanitary pads, and I often felt ashamed during my period,” says Mukeshimana Claudine, 22, from the Busasamana Sector in Nyanza District.
“Today, I am proud to be a youth volunteer producing pads for other girls and women. Being part of this work makes me feel that I am contributing to a real solution for one of the biggest challenges facing my sisters and peers.”
We’re not just managing a symptom. We’re fostering a holistic, sustainable and accessible solution that affirms women’s health in every sense of the word.
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