The Middflow Project · Lived experiences
When the cost of a period competes with the cost of putting food on the table.
Zinhle spends her working day on her feet. When her period comes, she does not always have menstrual products available to manage it.
Instead, she uses an old T-shirt and newspaper. She knows how to use what she has available. But managing a period this way is not a choice she should have to make.
The decision is not simply whether to buy pads or tampons.
For Zinhle, the money spent on menstrual products is money that may be needed to buy bread for her mother, sister and brother. On some days, buying products for herself means the household has less money for food.
This is one of the everyday realities of period poverty: menstrual care competing with other essential household needs.
It is easy to talk about menstrual products as an ordinary household purchase. But when a household budget is already stretched, even a basic product can become another difficult decision.
What Zinhle’s experience asks us to consider
Menstrual health access must take account of the economic realities people live with. Availability, affordability and continuity all matter.
Help make practical support possible
The Middflow Project is raising R30,000 to provide 50 women with menstrual products and personal-care essentials for five months.
R120 is the average monthly support allocation per woman. It is an average, not a fixed amount for every individual. Allocations may vary according to need.
Every contribution helps move the appeal forward. You can also share it with someone who may be able to help.
Contribute to the appeal Back to CommunityZinhle is a pseudonym. This account is based on an experience shared with The Middflow Project. Publication is subject to appropriate consent and safeguarding.
The Middflow Project · NPO 292-415 · Equity by Design.
