Making Periods Invisible
Helping refugee women regain their dignity by providing a hygienic way to cope with their periods.
Project Description
- What is the mission of your company or project?
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Our company is dedicated to making periods invisible for impoverished women by providing a device that allows women to hygienically, affordably, and privately deal with their periods.
- Describe the problem you are solving.
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Refugee women are faced with a number of challenges when it comes to their periods. Firstly, they do not have access to affordable and quality hygienic products. This results in women using cloth or baby nappies to control their bleeding, this often leaves them with infections, the materials often leak, and it’s very embarrassing for women to not have proper hygienic products. Secondly, it is hard for women to access detergent and hot water to wash their reusable pads they are already provided with. Thirdly, in Middle Eastern cultures there is so much stigma surrounding periods and women are often shamed for mensturating. This creates lots of stress for women to deal with their periods privately, which is hard to do when you live in a refugee camp.
- What is the market size/opportunity?
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Currently there are no devices to wash reusable pads for refugees on the market. There are millions of women that would benefit from the distribution of our product, so the market is enormous. As long as there is civil unrest there will always be displaced people and unfortunately, then there will always be a need for our product to help displaced women cope safely with their periods. Also, tampons and diva cups will not work in Mulsim cultures because of the idea that these “defile” women, so reusable pads are the only option for refugee women.
- What is your company/product about and how does it solve the problem?
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Our product the Looop Can is a can that can be hand powered to wash women’s reusable pads. Because of water and soap scarcity, our product is designed only to use baking soda and 500 ml of water to wash reusable pads. The Looop Can can be used in the privacy of a tent to clean the soiled pads, which relieves the burden of having to wash them in a public space. This allows women the privacy they deserve when dealing with their periods. Also the Loop Can provides 5 years of washes, perfect for an affordable long lasting solution and since our product will be distributed by NGOs women will not have to worry about purchasing our products.
- Why are you seeking funding and how will you spend the funding?
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We are seeking funding because we need the money to begin manufacturing our products in order to begin distribution to local NGOs.
- Who is on your team?
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As of now our team consists of four women. Nara Mataafa, our CEO is spearheading our operations in Lebanon, obtaining marketing content and working closely with the women to educate them about menstrual health. Anna Cousins, our VP is based in the United States and is heading a team to fundraise enough capital to begin manufacturing the Looop Can. Kara Wong, our product designer, is campaigning and exhibiting her product around the world. And Nilah Mataafa, our Treasurer, is monitoring our finances and wading through the legal processes to get patents and official non profit status.
We want to thank everyone who is partnering with us to make periods invisible. You are the people that are helping these women feel safe and secure within their own bodies. Thank you so much!
Updates
The Campaign FAQs
Frequently Asked Questions:
- Please, replace this example content
Why?
There are about 26 million people who fled their countries due to conflict, violence, or war. Note that women suffer more vulnerabilities such as widespread gender-based violence and almost 60% of female refugees suffer period poverty problems as they rather spend their funding on food or sacrifice pads for baby diapers.
Who?
Most of them come from strictly religious countries who see inserting tampons as taboo. This inspires me to design a product that can protect fundamental human rights to water, sanitation, and health for refugees from 12 to 24 years old, who suffer language and culture barriers and have limited financial ability.
What?
Instead of creating a completely new kit out of scratch, Looop Can uses recycled steel cans so that the washing container is easily replaceable. The pad’s design uses bamboo terry as the contact layer, bamboo fleece as the absorption layer and PUL as the leak proof layer as they are anti-odour, anti-bacterial and eco-friendly, which makes them less likely to cause skin allergies.
Where?
The Looop Can will be a stepping stone to promote hygiene awareness campaigns in the refugee camp. Refugees who join the 30 minutes menstrual hygiene management session can get 2 units of Looop Can as it makes sure that they learn how to use it properly. It also reduces gender-based violence as users don’t have to risk going out to travel long distances at night for toilets.
How?
You add the used pad in. Then you add the baking soda stored inside the container and add water until the level where the packaging indicates. Screw the cap, immerse the screw container and spin to mix the baking soda and water. Wait at least 30 minutes until the period blood disintegrates, then use the container to scrub the bloodstain. Rinse and scrub for 3 times and one pad can be cleaned with just 500 ml of water.
When?
It expects to have a 5 year lifespan, which covers the minimum time that a refugee stays in a camp waiting for identity approval.
Just Because I Care
Rewards
Just Because I Care