DETROIT (WXYZ) — Nearly three months ago, the governor of Michigan fought and won the battle to repeal the tax on essential menstrual products, saving families nearly $5,000 over the course of a lifetime.
But imagine a case where women and girls could not even afford to buy one sanitary napkin. That is the plight of some families living in villages in Africa.
Two ministers from Detroit, a husband and wife, have made it their life’s work to change the world one village at a time.
About 5,500 miles away from Michigan are the villages of Ghana. Families make their living farming and are so poor a sanitary napkin is a luxury.
“There is a problem in Africa and a lot of developing countries, it is called period shaming,” Minister Adrienne Booth Johnson said.
In Kenya last year, a young girl took her own life when she soiled her dress on the way home from school.
She was walking home and other kids taunted her. When she got home, her mother said, you brought shame to this house and this village.
Heartbreaking stories like that is why Booth Johnson and her husband, both ministers from Detroit and retirees from Coca Cola, launched an empowerment program called Wo Ye Bra. It refers to a woman’s menstrual cycle in the native language spoken in Ghana called Twi.
“How did this program come about? WXYZ’s Carolyn Clifford asked.
“When my husband and I retired, we started going to Africa in 2001,” Booth Johnson said.
They put together empowerment programs in South Africa and Liberia but then met a Coca Cola bottler. He pleaded with them to come to Ghana and help his wife Ellen Adu Baah. Sanitary products in the village were out of reach.
“You start by using leaves and old clothes,” Adu Baah said.
Girls in the village miss anywhere from five to seven days of school a month.
"Here in America, you have your period, you go to Walgreens, CVS and you buy something and you’re able to take care of that and stay in school. In Africa, it becomes an issue,” Booth Johnson said.
In 2015, Booth Johnson sent her daughter Jayla to Ghana for a pilot program and to do research. The University of Michigan graduate took 1,000 sanitary pads to hand out but quickly realized this wasn’t enough.
“In 12 to 18 months these, pads will be gone, so we decided to create a sustainable program,” Booth Johnson said.
Since starting the Wo Ye Bra program in 2017, they have trained 200 women to make reusable sanitary pads. With a $400 investment, they provide each woman with a sewing machine, fabric, training and teach women marketing skills so they can sell the pads and earn a living for their family.
“What do they say to you when they get this reusable pad? Clifford asked.
“They are happy, they think it’s a blessing,” Adu Baah responded.
“To me, it's changing generations,” Adrienne Booth Johnson said.
The Wo Ye Bra Program is now in Ghana and Sierra Leone. They hope to train another 500 to 1,000 women with more funding.
If you would like to help or learn more, go to www.woyebra.org/.
