Hirsch’s & Akani Primary School

One of Margaret Hirsch’s projects for 2013 is to take the Girls With Dignity Projects to underprivileged school girls throughout South Africa.  Margaret

BWSA’s Business Woman Of The Year (Entrepreneur) took on this project when she learnt that post pubescent girls in underprivileged areas around the country (and throughout Africa) were not attending school for a week every month when they had their periods.  “These girls are missing out on three months of their education every year. I realised that it was something that had to be dealt with as a matter of urgency.”

Sue Barnes, who developed the “Girls with dignity” pad pack has a background in clothing construction, fabrication and quality control. Commenting on how the pad and panty set evolved she explained “I spent a while coming up with different ideas before my final product evolved. It is a normal panty that has poppers on it, and the sanitary pad clips onto the panty. This is very user friendly as the pad clips on and off easily. The panty is made of 100% cotton knit, (130 – 140g) which allows the skin to breath.  The elastic has a standard non-woven rubber base, and wont stretch out of shape. The pad has 6 layers, the outer being the 100% cotton knit, water proofing, 3 layers of hydrophilic fabric and then the inner is a hydrophobic fabric. It is fully washable and therefore reusable and will last as long as a pair of panties.

On Monday, 5 August, the PRO’S from Hirschs – Lesley-Ann Oates (Fourways), Bridgitte Thysse (Boksburg), and Jenny-Lee Gordon(Strubens Valley) joined Margaret Hirsch at Akani School in Diepsloot to bring this fantastic initiative to these wonderful young ladies. They were extremely honoured a to have such a role-model and influencial figure come and speak to them. Margaret spoke to them about her childhood and how she had encountered many a difficult times, but with perseverance, determination and hard-work, she achieved all her goals and dreams. She encouraged the young ladies to always give their very best and to never give up, no matter what the circumstance.