Meet Sasha, dignity champion on a mission to end period poverty

Sasha Seraphine Mbote is a woman on a mission. She is out to eradicate period poverty in Africa and has partnered with other individuals and organisations to help achieve the goal.

“I was born and bred in Kenya, founder of Sasha Spice Africa, a Spa/NGO, empowering girls without formal education in Tanzania, which has now extended to other African nations (www.sashaspiceafrica.com). I am also the founder of Maridadi Tours and Safaris, a company that empowers the boy child through employment and courses related to tourism in Tanzania (www.maridaditours.co.tz),” narrates Sasha.

“I am also one of Upendo Women’s Foundation directors in East Africa and Africa at large, an NGO founded in California, USA, by my partner in the mission, Njeri Sellers for Kenyan girls, a mission that has extended to other African nations though my ‘I Travel Africa’ initiative, marketing Intra-African travel to boost the African economy.

“Upendo Women’s Foundation was established in America by my partners for Kenyan girls. But when I saw the same period poverty problem in Tanzania, where I was working as a spa manager in 2015, we started the mission there too. I then travelled to South Africa and found the problem was rampant there too, and we started distributing there in 2019. Uganda followed and we now cover 10 African nations, aiming to cover the entire continent by 2030 to end period poverty.”

Also read: Like Scotland, Kenya can end period poverty

Expansion

Sasha says some Zimbabwean Members of Parliament she met in 2018 are waiting for her to go and start the same initiative there. However, she adds that Covid-19 derailed them, but she is optimistic that they will still do so.

“Zaakira of The Mina Cup from South Africa, has also partnered with us and she donated enough cups for our women in prison, after I saw ‘Lynn Ngugi Show’, where a woman narrated how women in prison struggle with the same issues and we added prisons to our mission, which was only focussing on schoolgirls.

"We donate 10,000 pads in Kenya alone and in the other African nations, we donate 2,000 pads. During our mission in Kenya this year, we introduced the cup, which can serve one woman for 10 years, which is $15 dollars per cup, that is for production and shipping. Our NGO depends on donors and Covid-19 halted us for two years, but we are grateful we are back on our feet.”

Sasha reveals that Upendo’s mission is to keep girls in school, because they realised that some of them, who cannot afford, have to skip classes on their period days.

Also read: Period poverty must be a 2022 campaign issue

“The reusable washable dignity kits we give, can keep one girl in school for four years. The cups we introduced, which are more suitable for mature women, go for 10 years and this is helping us end period poverty in Africa. Some of our donors prefer buying the kits as part of donations, enabling us to reach out to more girls since our budget is set for each country each year,” says the philanthropist.

“We realised the struggle of marginalised girls, and that is why we started it for those who cannot afford pads.”

Sasha had never dreamt of doing such a thing before partnering with Upendo. In fact, the first time girls asked her to buy them pads in Arusha, Tanzania, she cried as she did not know there are people who cannot afford pads. As a young girl, her parents were able to provide them for her. After the encounter, she felt so ignorant that she opted to take part in the initiative.

“The idea came to my mind, after I started travelling across Africa and when in marginalised areas, when I would ask the girls what to bring them in my next visit, they would ask for pads, unlike children from urban cities who ask for sweets or clothes.”

Beneficiaries

So far, they have distributed to over 100,000 women at Upendo and for Mina Cup, to over 70,000 women. Sasha says Upendo looks forward to covering the entire continent. “After my interview with Lynn Ngugi, I have received calls asking for the same from so many African nations.

“Our pads are sourced from America; we buy the fabric in Egypt, but our pads are made by the elderly people in elderly homes in America. We then send them pictures to keep them alive showing them the change they are bringing in the world through their work in those homes. We source our pads from our headquarters in California. Most of our donors are from churches in America,” reveals Sasha.

They distribute once per year. This year, they focussed on prisons, since the ones they gave out in 2019, are still serving the girls, as one dignity keeps a girl safe for four years. They have distributed the pads in Murang’a, Nyeri, Isiolo, Turkana, Samburu, Kisumu, Busia, Mombasa and Malindi.

Read: Call for enhanced period poverty war in pastoral areas

“In places like Turkana, it is such a challenge because our kits are washable and the girls tell us they don’t have water; that is why we partnered with Mina Cup to overcome the water obstacle,” she adds.

“Our main employees are 20, the rest are volunteers who want to be part of the mission. We have received so many requests since I appeared on ‘Lynn Ngugi Show’ and I am glad because in 2023, we will have a lot of good people working with us. The amount of money we use is $15 multiplied by 10,000 kits; that is Kenya alone per year,” reveals Sasha.

They face different hurdles. “The marginalised areas make me shed tears when girls say they cannot access water in places alike Samburu. Then we have those with torn uniforms, no shoes and we have to cater for that despite it not being part of our budget.”

Worrying cases

Recently, she went to Serene Haven Rescue Centre in Nyeri, a home founded for young mothers and she was dumbfounded. “The youngest being a Standard 6 child, most of the girls there are from rape cases, you wonder what the [area] Member of Parliament does there, because they were 26 small girls with babies they cannot provide for. I bought them a few food items out of my pads distribution budget, you go to solve a problem, only to be met by a bigger problem and no one seems to care about such children.

“Furthermore, since they got pregnant, they were kicked out of their homes with small babies…I do not even want to understand the mental torture those children are going through. They needed medicine because they don’t even have proper clothes and it was so cold out there. We are a nation that has money for campaigns but not for such children, may God forgive us,” laments Sasha.

She says their future plans for Upendo is to establish factories in Africa, to create jobs for the youth by training them in how to make the kits. Most teachers tell them they prefer the cotton kits they give than the pads they buy, which are disposed of everywhere and mess up the environment. She adds that what they donate are eco-friendly and that as an environmentalist, she fights for that.

“We have met with the First Lady and gave her a thousand units to distribute to a school of her choice or children in need, as a way of introducing washable reusable pads. Unfortunately, we have not received any support from the government. However, we talked to them about different concepts, as to how we can end period poverty in Kenya. We are still waiting for them to get back to us on this solution; up to date, nothing has been said or done.”

She urges people to “touch one another”.

“If we can all go out there and help just one person, this continent can heal a lot. We are not a poor continent; our funds are just mismanaged. With all the wealth in Africa, we shouldn’t be struggling with pads for the African girl. Anyone who would like to donate can send what they can to M-Pesa number 0795207353,” says Sasha.

[email protected]