I was in 7th grade home-economics class when I first learned the basics of a sewing machine. The assignment of making my very own gym bag was exciting enough to give any 12-year-old the motivation to learn how the strange sewing contraption worked.
Almost 30 years later, with the help of some YouTube videos, I have been refreshed on the basics of a sewing machine and motivated to create an improved pad design to help the Nepalis women in the mountain regions.
After asking some questions from our first distributions in 2009, I began to realize how important it was for the pad to dry thoroughly as this would prevent infection. The mountainous regions stay mostly cold, with long winters of snow, followed by very wet summers during monsoon season.
In a typical Nepalese home, the main gathering room is the “kitchen.” This space serves as the dining room, living room, and even the bedroom during the cold months. With many months of a damp exterior, it would be nearly impossible for the women to dry their pads outside, which means hours of drying pads in the kitchen in open view. Even in Western culture, this would be uncomfortable, but even more so in a culture where menstruation is taboo.
What to do?
There had to be a way to make the pads dry more quickly to minimize the time in front of uncomfortable, embarrassing eyes. After some research, I took a previously existing popular pad model and modified it to fit the women’s needs in the Himalayas. This new model is perfect as the layers are better separated for faster drying.
After sharing the new model with our lead tailor, she informed me that she was already trained in tailor school on this very same model! We also calculated that this model is less expensive and faster to make!
I am very thankful for God’s help in making this project more efficient and fruitful!
