THE policewomen’s network at Walvis Bay last week donated sanitary pads and other toiletries to girls of the JP Brandt Primary School at the Utuseb village.
Twenty-five girls boarding at the school each received two packets of sanitary pads, bath soaps, body lotion, a toothbrush, toothpaste and deodorant.
Utuseb is located some 40 kilometres south of Walvis Bay and is inhabited mostly by the Topnaars, a Nama community also known as the ≠Aonin.
The network’s coordinator in Erongo, chief inspector Johanna van Rooyen, told Nampa on Sunday that the items were handed over to the girls last Wednesday as part of their mandate to raise funds and support vulnerable groups.
Van Rooyen said the school was identified as one where a lot of children from poor families needed assistance with basic necessities.
The women also distributed packets of sweets, chips and biscuits to the rest of the school’s pupils. Van Rooyen said it was an emotional moment, especially when they gave the pads to the girls.
“Three of them were 11-year-olds, and one could tell that they did not even know how to use pads. They use socks or nothing when their cycles start,” she stated.
Van Rooyen said it was such a sad story that teenage girls at the school sometimes struggled to get pads.
“We learned that a lot of these children suffer because parents do not have an income to fully support them,” she added.
The community consists mostly of unemployed people, who rely on harvesting the desert !nara for survival.
They, however, have concession rights to control, protect and conserve the !nara plants, Topnaar graves and historical homesteads, through which they charge tou-rists a fee.
Van Rooyen said the policewomen’s network also used the opportunity to talk to the schoolchildren about issues such as gender-based violence, the negative impact of theft, assault, crimen injuria, bullying and teasing.
The officer said the group’s aim was to establish positive relations between the police, the school and the Topnaar community.
“We want to contribute to a safe and supportive learning environment for the learners who are far away from their beloved families,” she noted.
The school management and pupils were impressed with the visit.
One teacher confessed that she only knew the negative issues police deal with, and could not believe seeing female police officers giving to the needy.
The school accommodates children from across Namibia, and currently has 286 pupils in Grades 1 to 7, of whom 133 are girls.
The network aims to address women’s empowerment as well as gender equality in the police force.
– Nampa
