Sewing class participant,Sakuntala Gupta：At first, we made simple pads, on the second day, we made day pads and today we are making long pads.

Sewing with care, the women learnt to sew cloth sanitary pads under the guidance of the Nepal Health Environment and Climate Action Foundation (HECAF).

These cloth sanitary pads will not only be provided to the campus for health education promotion, but also to create more employment opportunities for women, an extension of the sewing class under the functional training program that Tzu Chi provided for women last year.

Tzu Chi Malaysia volunteer, Cecilia Ong: We came to teach them how to make these cloth sanitary pads, hoping that out of our four missions, we can really open up a path through the charity mission, which is to enable them to be self-reliant through their own diligence, this is helpful to the local area, rather than increasing their dependency on others.

The participants are women who helped sew cloth masks during the pandemic, as well as graduates of the first sewing class. The first day of this seven-day course coincided with World Environment Day, where women learnt to do their part for the environment and more about hygiene.

Sewing class participant, Sakuntala Gupta: After I learnt, I will be also teaching others, if we use cotton pads, it will save money and we can also sell after making it.

President of HECAF, Mahesh: In Nepal, annually there are 130 million pads used by 15% of the women, this means per month, almost 10 million pads are going to disposable waste. A good cloth pad which is less toxic, and cost-effective, and also enabling it to be safer for women here.

The founder of the International Buddhist Society, Bhante Maitri, also came to encourage the participants. Not bowing to fate and step by step, the women used their own hands to turn their lives around.