GLOW WITH THE FLOW

This project aims to create a workshop for the women of the Wayúu community, where they will learn how to sew and make menstrual underwear. This will allow these women to become micro-entrepreneurs, to take ownership of their own labour, and to begin to free themselves from the extreme poverty they currently face and that has worsened over the last year of the pandemic.

Not only will this initiative increase their income, but will also bring access to much needed sustainable and safe menstrual products. Reusable menstrual underwear are not only cost effective, but will also help these women reduce the environmental impact of their period and prevent health problems associated with use of disposable sanitary pads.

For most women in this community, buying disposable sanitary items is a luxury that they cannot afford. Instead they resort to inefficient pieces of fabric and choose stay at home throughout their cycle to avoid being seen with stained clothing. Access to period underwear will allow these women to live a normal life all year round, will promote gender and menstrual equality, and help these women to reach their full potential.

Yet this is not a problem unique to this community. In fact, you can't talk about global gender equality without talking about periods. For many women and girls around the world, traditional period products are too expensive and too difficult to find. We hope to use this project as a pilot together with Abury Foundation, that could be replicated around the globe.

The goal of this project is to create a workshop in which 16 women of the Wayúu community will be taught how to sew reusable cloth menstrual underwear. These will then be handed out across five Wayúu communities, giving 174 women access to much needed period products. They will also sell the panties, generating another source of income, which will allow them improve their quality of life, shrink the gender gap, and reduce the environmental impact of disposable sanitary napkins.

The people of the sun, sand and wind, the Wayúu people are a traditional, indigenous community based in the la Guajira Peninsula, a desert region in the northeast of Colombia. Throughout history this tribe has battled Spanish conquistadors, modern Governments, and Mother Nature in order to keep their traditions alive.

This region has also struggled with a lack of economic resources and basic public services, which has produced high levels of social inequality and extreme poverty. The Wayúu people live in matriarchal communities which heavily rely on the trade of traditional craftwork. Yet this is not yet economically sustainable, as unfair local trade dynamics and an undervaluing of their work leaves them with little to no profits for economic growth. Here, weaving is not just a cultural practice handed down through generations of ancestors, but it is also the way in which they express themselves and tell their stories.

84% of the population live in poverty; 6 in 10 adults are illiterate; and some children are forced to walk up to 3 hours just to get to school. The community has the highest infant mortality rate of any region in the Colombia, with 34 deaths per 1,000 live births. Yet the absence of support and public funding from the state makes it incredibly difficult to better the situation and eliminate these social inequalities. Along with a lack of education schemes, the community is really limited by a shortage of job opportunities. Global warming has also increased the frequency and severity of the droughts faced by the tribes which threatens their crops and livestock.

The second phase of the initiative will see this project replicated around the world, particularly in indigenous communities across Africa. We hope to share our experiences and what we have learnt working with the Wayúu people in a manual that can be shared with other communities.

By supporting this project you will:
1. Empower a group of women, helping them to become micro-entrepreneurs and to free themselves from extreme poverty.
2. Help the Wayúu women take back the dignity of their period.
3. Give women of this tribe access to reusable period underwear.
4. Reduce the ecological impact of disposable period products; an individual goes through approximately 11,000 disposable period products in their lifetime, with each pad taking over 500 years to decompose.
5. Help these women save money - menstrual underwear are much more cost-effective than disposable pads.
6. Reduce health problems caused by disposable pads and the toxic chemicals often used in their production.
7. Give these women the chance to reach their full potential, every day of the month.
8. Help this project to be replicated around the world, bringing economic opportunities and reusable menstrual products to communities across the globe.
9.Support a productive and sustainable project that is taking part in the fight for global gender equality.
10. Tackel finantial crisis due to the Pandemic.

The money raised will allow us to acquire the sewing machines, equip the workshops and teach the women how to sew and make the underwear. A percentage of the money will also be used to support the construction of the workshop.

The money will be used the following ways:

Construction Center 56%
Machines, materials and tools 28%
Training 16%