On the 29^th of June we hosted our very first activation of many, with the help of AB In Bev, previously known as SAB and several volunteers. The activation was a Sanitary Pads and Underwear Drive. Initially, we wanted to have the drive on Youth Day but it would have been much smaller and less impactful so we partnered with AB In Bev who sponsored over 400 packs of sanitary towels from our other family, Mimi Women, and we then decided to add underwear because one of our board members had noticed how most of the people in the communities we were targeting did not have decent underwear. It’s not every day that people think “women need sanitary pads, but they also need decent underwear to wear along with those pads” so when AB In Bev hopped on, we decided to postpone the event from June 16^th, to have one big activation on the 29^th of June.

The activation started in China Square, right behind Home Affairs in Rocklands. Before we got the activation underway, the girls performed a play for us reenacting their interpretation of what occurred on that fateful day of June 16th 1976 and what led to it. The play was about how learners rejected Afrikaans as the medium of instruction in schools and how often schools were constantly under heavy police supervision.

We handed out sanitary pads to our young girls and underwear to both our young girls and boys. We then moved over to another section that is also in Rocklands, called Sejake and handed out some more sanitary pads door to door. From the outside looking in, we hadn’t anticipated just how serious the issue was of woman not having access to, or being able to afford something so necessary and we got them in contact with some of our facilitators who would keep in touch should they need some more.

Overall the activation was a success as we handed out more packs than we thought we would. We hope to have even more activations and events such as this particular one because one of our prime goals is to leave women feeling dignified and ready to take over the world with no restrictions!