A conversation with the president of a nongovernmental organization in Comoros prompted a Montgomery County, Maryland, woman to launch a nonprofit offering reusable menstrual products.
Jyoti Mehta founded An Empowered Girl in August 2024, after learning there were several misconceptions about menstruation among young girls who lived in the island nation off the coast of Africa.
Since it launched, the group has provided pads and kits to over 600 girls.
“Living in the U.S., we never have to worry about menstruation products,” Mehta said. “They’re easily available. They’re accessible to us. It breaks my heart that a girl cannot attend school, and then she’s kind of stuck.”
Some young girls in Comoros believed their period was a way of being punished for their sins or that it was because they were eating spicy food, Mehta said. She asked about period products, and learned they’re not always available or accessible to families in remote areas. A regular set of pads could cost up to $1.20, Mehta said, which is more than what families earn in a week.
After getting more details about the barriers and being told that girls were missing school because they didn’t have access to menstrual products, Mehta started researching how to sew a reusable menstrual pad and what type of fabric to use to make it last longer.
The group is largely funded through fundraising events and online fundraisers, Mehta said. It has sewing chapters in Rockville and North Potomac in Maryland and Centreville and Ashburn in Virginia. There are also cutting chapters in North Potomac and Ashburn, as well as a series of student-led chapters too.
“If they don’t have access to pads, they don’t go to school,” Mehta said. “And if you miss school, three or four days every month, ultimately you fall behind, and at some point, you might just give up on education, and it’s kind of like the circle of poverty just goes round and round.”
In August, Mehta said, the nonprofit distributed kits with six pads and a waterproof pouch to over 220 girls in a remote part of Mohéli, one of the islands in Comoros. They also taught the girls and their mothers how to sew pads.
“They can continue the work locally even after we leave. We had sewing sessions there, and we taught local moms hand sewing and machine sewing, how to sew pads and we also provided them materials so they can continue the work,” Mehta said.
The group, Mehta said, is looking to grow its volunteer network across the D.C. region.
More information about the nonprofit is available online.
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