So I founded my own volunteer project in Tanzania

In June 2022 I took part in a volunteer project from RGV in Zanzibar part that focused on sea turtle conservation. As a biologist, my goal was to gain insights into species conservation in other countries. During my two-week participation in the project, I had the opportunity to learn a lot about the country from my local team and my Tanzanian colleagues at the project station. I was also able to gain insights into their everyday life and local life. This was the main reason why I chose a volunteer project rather than just a traditional trip - I wanted to create a close connection with the local people, at least within the two week time frame.

One day I took a trip to the “Maasai World” museum village on my own to get to know the culture of this people better. The Maasai are well-known in Tanzania and Kenya, but most tourists often only encounter them as souvenir sellers on the beach or when visiting a village after the safari.

My guide in “Maasai World”, Michael, was extremely patient and answered my numerous questions. As I had already experienced during previous stays in Africa, it was also common in Tanzania to exchange new telephone numbers and business cards. At the end of the guided tour, Michael gave me his contact and said I could visit his home village on the mainland. There I could experience first hand how the Maasai live in nature, take a break from television and modern conveniences and enjoy the beautiful starry sky in the countryside.

I initially accepted the offer politely, then left Zanzibar and returned to Germany a week later with wonderful memories of Tanzania.

Occasionally, fate plays an unexpected role and great things happen without warning. A few months later, due to a pandemic situation, I was unable to go on my originally planned trip as planned. As a result, I contacted Michael again and asked him if I could spend a week in his home village. He agreed, and so I spontaneously decided to spend my next vacation in the countryside. Packing my suitcase wasn't difficult for me due to my previous trips to Africa, but I wanted to bring my hosts a meaningful gift. It was important to me not to give random "Western" items, so I inquired about a suitable gift. The response I received deeply surprised and touched me.

“The women need sanitary pads and underwear.”

Although I had noticed the living conditions of many people on previous trips to Southeast Asia and Africa, I had never thought deeply about any particular topic. I remember my time in Ethiopia, where I learned that many rural girls dropped out of school because they had no way to deal with their periods with dignity, let alone deal with it in other ways. At that moment I felt caught and ashamed of my thoughtlessness. It is astonishing worldwide how many women cannot simply go to the nearest store to buy sanitary products. Either there is no shop nearby, they lack financial resources or the topic of menstruation is so taboo that they cannot express their needs openly.

There is a lot of shocking information about the problem “Period Poverty”, many of which have never been recorded in human rights reports or academic studies. The fact that I was now confronted with this directly moved me deeply. I was struck by the candor of this response and the fact that a young man from what was considered a very patriarchal culture was so blunt about these needs of women.

These feelings sparked a passion in me for the topic. I started researching reusable sanitary pads because disposable ones would only help in the short term and also cause environmental pollution. After thinking about how to effectively clean sanitary pads without access to a washing machine, I decided to create my own design. I created a pattern for pads that were plastic free and had a removable liner.

However, since I didn't have time to sew, I looked for a tailor shop that could take over the production for me. The idea quickly came to me that I could consider a workshop for people with disabilities. My contact with such an institution in Berlin FSD LWerk, was extremely positive. I visited the workshop, presented my project to the management of the tailoring department and together we worked on making some improvements to the pattern using the fabrics I had brought with me.

I also had the opportunity to get to know the employees in the workshop area. The head of the workshop later said that her employees were very happy about the project and were proud that their products would travel all the way to Africa. So a little later I set off on my trip to Tanzania, with washable sanitary pads and underwear for about a dozen households in my luggage. After I settled into the village, towards the end of my stay we organized a small gathering for the women where I would present my gifts.

Since I didn't speak Swahili myself and didn't want to give this unusual gift without explanation, I suggested that a nurse could be present to explain to the women how to wash the pads and answer their questions. This was actually implemented.

How I would have loved to understand the conversations in this situation. But what I experienced when I left needed no words. My host, the young Maasai, whom I had previously asked about the customs of his culture, explained to me that the Maasai do not normally hug or have much physical contact. The warm hugs I received as I left the village were the warmest hugs I had experienced in a long time.

As a result, I thought about how I could support even more women. The Crowdfunding Campaign, which I had already started before my trip, I continued to have more reusable sanitary pads made in Berlin. Since I firmly believe that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, and I am not alone in this concern, I began to actively look for contacts.

I have a club called “Nature of women e. V.” discovered in Hamburg, who specializes in removing taboos from the topic of menstruation in both Africa and Germany through educational programs for women and men. They also offer training on how to make reusable sanitary pads. I now work actively with this association and build relationships with other initiatives in order to network committed people from different countries.

I have now visited Tanzania several times and will be carrying out projects for school children in two different regions in the near future. I will provide them with washable sanitary pads and give them access to health education. My medium-term goal is to give local women access to cost-effective products and to build up local production. In addition, I am currently working on a similar project in another African country.

“It all started in a tiny trip during my RGV volunteer project in Tanzania.”