Director and founder of the Flame of Life Foundation, Sheila Muzambe, has set her sights on building a partnership with a local sanitary pad and diaper manufacturer in her quest to support vulnerable girls across Zimbabwe.
On Friday, Muzambe toured Happy Day, a Chinese-owned company in Harare, where she proposed the idea of collaborating to make sanitary products more accessible while promoting locally produced goods.
Muzambe has been at the forefront of campaigns to restore dignity to disadvantaged girls who lack menstrual products, particularly in rural areas. Just last week, more than 100 girls from Mukamba Primary and Secondary Schools in Manicaland Province benefited from her latest donation of sanitary pads, which she sourced from Happy Day.
“I was touched when I heard that some girls are still using tree leaves and cow dung during their menstruation,” she said during her factory tour. “Some are even using cloth from torn t-shirts. I did not have much in terms of resources, so I left a few pads at the schools for emergencies so that in times of need the girls can be assisted.”
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Happy Day Administrator Nancy Mutashu welcomed the collaboration, but also shed light on challenges faced by local manufacturers. “Our biggest challenge is the duty charges for raw materials, which makes it hard to compete with cheaper finished products that are smuggled into the country,” she explained.
“Nevertheless, we remain committed to supporting initiatives like this."
The company currently employ 65 local workers, and on a normal day, they produce between 5,000 to 8,000 pads or diapers per minute, supplying wholesale shops and supermarkets nationwide.
The partnership is expected to provide a platform for improved menstrual health support in schools while also encouraging the consumption of locally manufactured products.
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