00:00It's a great change, a beautiful change that I can move around freely with Califay.
00:06How I met Califay was through an outreach that came to a particular secondary school there
00:12that at least I go there to teach children. It's a Gomez secondary school. So we went there
00:18on like a Mother's Day child and Mother's Day stuff. So I was able to get Califay there
00:25and I explained my experience to them and how the community is and how other people face
00:32lack of pads in other rural areas like our own areas. So they gifted me a whole pack like five
00:39packs of Califay and since that period I've been moving freely with Califay.
00:46Pesce's story is proof that necessity is the mother of infection. She is one of many girls
00:52benefiting from a homegrown solution to period poverty in Nigeria. Califay, a youth-led initiative
00:59making affordable, biodegradable pads for banana stem fiber and cotton.
01:04Now the problem with the fact that women are not able to access our affordability pad is
01:10many of these women use unsustainable materials like rags, like tissues and even clothes. This
01:17predisposes them to illnesses and even to infections that can later lead to cancers and fertility issues
01:25which are some of the problems that our product is addressing and some of the reasons why we have
01:30founded Califay. So far Califay's eco-friendly pads have reached thousands of women and girls in
01:36underserved communities helping them manage their periods with dignity, health and confidence.
01:42These women are always overjoyed to see our vehicle, always overjoyed to see our product and our
01:49product has helped thousands of them resume school, thousands of them attend school and also carry out
01:55their day-to-day activities because currently they can now manage their um um sunny at their periods
02:02without um fear and with dignity. Activists believe scaling up such efforts could transform lives
02:09nationwide. There are a lot of channels to be able to distribute this if you keep the girl child in
02:15school it will also have some kind of a written sensitization in different languages depending on
02:22the country where these boxes are yeah and they can read and understand how to use this. It will help
02:29the mental health of the girl child she doesn't have to worry every month but this is a process this is
02:34a natural phenomenon. If we solve this problem we'll be tackling 90% of the solution of what period
02:43poverty has done to our society. But the struggle is real. Sanitary pads cost up to 1,200 Newa,
02:50approximately one dollar a pack too costly for many families. Students like Emanuela Chisholm know this all
02:57too well. So as a student growing up being able to buy all those parts were very expensive because
03:07our parents said if you ask them they'll be like uh-uh nah nah nah nah your period have started with you.
03:14Previously for girls like patients the lack of bad men skipping school for days each month.
03:20Just take a whole week I will not go to school and I'll just be home I'll just tell the class rep that
03:25I'm not feeling too fine because I can't just tell him what the blue name is. So I only stay at home
03:31due to because I don't maybe have parts like move around because I use tissue. I know tissue don't
03:37absorbs more of the blood so you have to just be at home just like make yourself more comfortable.
03:44From shame to confidence, from stigma to dignity, Northern Nigeria's fight against pure poverty is godly bearing
03:52foods.
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