Young woman’s quest to end period poverty bears fruit

XJ Mayana, the former principal of Kuyasa Combined School, has always been a big supporter of Anelisiwe Valuvalu’s (right) work as a Leafline ambassador.

Anelisiwe Valuvalu was in Grade 11 at Kuyasa Combined School when a field trip offered new hope to the girls of her community.

On that day in 2022, she and her fellow Interact club members learnt of reusable sanitary towels being made from pineapple leaf fibres in the nearby town of Bathurst.

Could it be, Valuvalu thought as she sat in the audience at Port Alfred High School, that the solution to the long-standing problem of township girls not having access to feminine hygiene products lay only 12km away?

She wasted no time in finding out.

After the presentation she approached Candy Androliakos, the brainchild behind the product, and told her that it could be life-changing for the girls in Nemato Location, where she lived, and beyond.

Valuvalu, who is now pursuing a degree in foundational-phase education at Fort Hare, recalls the businesswoman handing her samples to distribute among her peers.

“I immediately knew it was an incredible product. I thought, ‘This needs to be known because it’s a game-changer’.

“You can’t always afford normal sanitary towels, so to be able to reuse them makes such a difference,” Valuvalu, who grew up in a household where both parents were unemployed, said.

The youngster, who herself suffered the consequences of her period arriving without warning during the June exams of that year, knows all too well about the difficulties faced by female learners.

“Our uniform was powder-blue so the stains were very visible. We also didn’t have sanitary towels at our school,” she explained.

At first she was confused when her classmate suddenly wrapped his jersey around her waist but soon realised what was happening and rushed to the bathroom.

In the end, she was forced to head home for a change of clothes.

Witnessing the product’s value in her community inspired her to continue spreading the word and today the 19-year-old is an ambassador for Leafline.

Next she wants to host an event on campus to introduce her fellow students to it.

“When you find something that has been helpful to you, and realise you are not the only one in this situation, you have to reach out to others,” Valuvalu, who considers it her “backbone” when turning out for the university’s Baby Blues rugby team, said.

“I am not going to stop. This experience has helped me grow. It’s about helping others, not just looking after myself.”

SPAR Eastern Cape, which champions #EndPeriodPoverty, partnered with Androliakos several years ago to give muscle to the cause, advertising manager Roseann Shadrach explained.

The relationship tied in with its Petals campaign, she added.

Through this programme the retailer has inspired its shoppers to donate more than 14 million packs of feminine hygiene products to NGOs in the country and abroad since 2019.

Androliakos – credited as the first person in the world to use the absorbent pineapple leaf fibres for the manufacturing of soft, breathable, durable and washable fabric – will never forget the learner running after her and insisting that her product be promoted in the township.

“Since then she has taken it upon herself to get involved with our projects. She’s really good at what she does and passionate about the cause.”

About seven million South African women are impacted and one in three learners miss up to five days of school every month due to their inability to purchase menstrual products.