Miss Vivian Akudo Nwogu was born in Ezinihitte Mbaise in Imo state, Nigeria. She is a registered nurse and the founder of the "Pro-women Safe Sanitary Foundation". Talking about young people doing big things, Vivian is the brain behind the "PADS FOR HER" initiative- a group of people who going into remote villages to sensitise girls on how to use sanitary pads as well as give them for free because they cannot afford it. According to her, giving a girl a pen is good but teaching them how to take care of themselves is also very necessary;
" Early last year, I saw a campaign to give a girl-child a pen and I thought within me- these people are not even seeing that there's a problem with the affordability of sanitary pads and the need to solve it. There and then, I called a few friends to join me in the campaign for sanitary pads. After all that, the issue was not brought up again so in December, I had to kick-start it myself with a broadcast. My friends supported and responded by donating in fact, Mrs Chidera Emetu a secondary school classmate took it up and added my account number on Facebook which led to a lot people volunteering and donating. Between December 23rd and 24th, we realised almost 40,000 naira which we used to purchase the pads and went into the rural areas in Owerri to sensitise the young girls we met as well as give them pads. You needed to see the joy in their faces and how happy they were so friends encouraged me to turn it into a Non- Government Organisation which led to the birth of the Pro-women Safe Sanitary Foundation".
Driven by her love for organising things in school and events as well as her profession, Vivian knew she could do more so she created a group for women sanitary on Facebook which was perfect for her idea at the long run. Furthermore, the problem of sanitary pads being unaffordable was her motivation;
"I have 3 sisters and I know how it costs my parents to take care of us monthly being that one pad costs 350-400 naira, sometimes we use more than one per month. You can imagine some girl out there who cannot afford 3 square- meal talk more of sanitary pad hence the use of rags and tissue paper. I even know someone who takes Vitamin K to prevent menstruation because she can't afford pad monthly, you can now imagine how risky that is".
Like every other entrepreneur, Vivian faces challenges; she needs a website, a photographer, graphic designer, most importantly, she needs funding for the events she has lined up to ask for donations, as well as fundraising which will help generate money to continue running the NGO.
See pictures of her as well as her events below;
More info concerning her upcoming events will be communicated via the blog, stay tuned in to be a part of it any way you can.
