“Women pay large amounts for being women. That was never acceptable and it will never be,” said University of Johannesburg (UJ) alumni and former Miss South Africa Bokang Montjane at the official launch of University’s One Million Pads Campaign on Thursday, 3 November 2016.

Montjane has joined #OneMillionPads, an initiative of the Institutional Office for HIV and AIDS (IOHA) in partnership with Community Engagement (CE) and Student Accommodation and Residence Life (SARL) seeking to make a difference in the lives of the underprivileged women in South Africa. Girls who cannot afford pads or tampons miss approximately 5 days of school a month, which amounts to 60 missed school days a year.

Several boxes of sanitary towel donations were also received from MIA Pads, and Dignity Dreams as part of their ongoing Social Makeover Project to ensure the dignity of the girl child.

Campaign leader, Thabiso Majavu said the donations would go a long way in providing assistance to not only high school and township girls, but also university students who also struggle to meet the need. “As the Student Representative Council (SRC) we are appealing to the larger campus community, NGOs and government to also get involved where they can and make drop-offs,” added Majavu.

Drop-offs can be made at the SRC offices on UJ campuses, as well as the Communications and Media Relations Office.

The goal of the campaign is to raise one million sanitary towels to be able to distribute between February – March 2017.