Good Sports:GIRL SCOUT’S FAR-REACHING PROJECT
Devika Chhipa Kumar, a Grade 12 student at Westwood High School in Austin, Texas, has installed a sanitary pad manufacturing machine in Rajasthan, as part of her Girl Scout project.
Devika raised money from friends, relatives, and others to install the machine, which was invented by a Tamil Nadu man named Arunachalam Muruganantham.
Making six sanitary pads in 15 minutes, Devika’s machine will benefit women in five villages in the Dityakheri panchayat of Rajasthan, providing them with affordable sanitary pads. It will also provide a source of income for the handful of women who are being trained to operate the machine.
Devika and her parents have traveled around the villages to educate women on menstrual hygiene.
“I want to sensitize the rural women in my father’s homeland, where menstruation is still believed to be taboo,” Devika told the Hindustan Times. “The use of sanitary pads is not widespread either, mostly due to their unavailability and unaffordability.”
Compiled and partly written by Indian humorist MELVIN DURAI, author of the novel Bala Takes the Plunge.
[Comments? Contributions? Please email us at melvin@melvindurai.com. We welcome jokes, quotes, online clips, and more.]
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