While initiatives like Icyumba cy’umukobwa (or the girl’s room) built at each school, have led to less stigma and more chances for girls, thousands of women and girls still cannot afford sanitary pads.

Anita is a Senior 6 student at Groupe Scolaire Butare Catholique in Huye District. Anita (not her real name) said having the room at her school has given girls chances they once wished for.

"In primary school, when a girl had her period and stained her skirt, the boys would laugh at her and it made us all uneasy,” she said.

A typical girl’s room has a bed, free sanitary pads, a washroom and budget to keep it operational.

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Having the room at the school has changed a lot for girls, who used to miss classes during their period, explains Valentine Tuyishimire, a teacher in charge of the girl’s room at the school.

At least three girls had to miss classes every day due to period pain, Tuyishimire said. "But with the girl’s room, that is no more.”

Should pads be offered for free?

Even if girls can have free pads at school, at home some of them still cannot afford to buy one. A packet of pads goes for Rwf700 to 1,000.

In rural areas, where most households depend on subsistence farming, pads are perceived as luxury.

"When you can’t buy the decent pads, then you make do with pieces of cloth,” said Josephine Niragire, a resident of Save Sector in Gisagara District.

"You wash them and dry them in the sun. But if you are a student or have to spend hours away from home, you won’t rely on pieces of cloth; they get soaked so easily.”

If pads were to be made free, that could make a big difference, she said.

ALSO READ: After VAT waiver, now activists want production costs for sanitary pads reduced

In 2019, the government added pads to the list of products exempted from the value added tax (VAT), a move that raised optimism that the price could be more affordable.

But the price has not gone down, in part due to high production costs and some traders who insisted on charging the tax.

Anita said that the majority of girls at her school in urban Huye come from families that can afford pads.

"Pads may not be offered for free to everyone who needs them,” said the open-faced student, "But girls from vulnerable families really need support.”

Who should take the lead?

"Making sanitary pads free would be the best solution to period poverty,” Divine Akimana, an activist who makes reusable washable pads, said.

It’s a practical initiative that can be implemented by the government and the non-profit organisations that operate in Rwanda, she observed.

"With the help of grassroots leaders and schools, the government can establish the number of vulnerable girls who need the pads; and the civil society would be motivated to join,” Akimana said.