Managing periods in rural Cambodia can be a challenge! Period products are expensive, even knickers are a luxury item, and bathrooms are not always convenient. Many girls stay home from school for the week of their monthly period to avoid embarrassing incidents. We’re changing that in rural Cambodia with our Elevate project –  empowering girls with knowledge about their bodies and giving them kits containing reusable sanitary products! With one $30 kit, you can change a girls life. With five kits ($150), you can change five girls’ lives! Make a gift today that will elevate girls above the barriers of period-poverty. 

The Elevate project, run by our partners at Asian Outreach Cambodia, is impacting hundreds of girls (and boys) each year. Our team shares empowering knowledge with middle-school aged kids about puberty, helping them navigate those awkward years with confidence. These young people are often not hearing the facts and reassurance they need from their parents. In many cases even their parents are unaware of what’s actually going on inside the body during adolescence. Culturally, they may even feel shy to talk about these things with their children. With information and encouragement, we can fill the knowledge-gaps and help rural Cambodian kids thrive through puberty with dignity.

Give to empower girls today!

Donations will impact generations to come, as the girls we equip today will one day be mothers and grandmothers.

Donate with credit card here or with online banking:

Personal Growth and Period-Power

My name is Sovan Tola, I am 14 years old  and I have six siblings. I am a shy girl and rarely talk to people around me, especially men, because I still remember the pictures of my father abusing my mother when I was a child. I was born into a poor family with almost no food and very little education, so I was always upset about the cost of tuition and asking my mother for money to buy period products.

Ever since I’ve grown up, I’ve never had a dream to aspire to because I haven’t really known what rights I have in life and in society. When it comes to health and hygiene, I have never dared to talk to anyone, not even my mother.

The disposable period products are irritating so I would just hide and thought it was okay because it only happened once a month and did not want my mother to be upset, having to buy me products.

Fortunately, I had the opportunity to join the training with AOC, it changed my mindset and made my life a lot easier.   I gained a lot of knowledge about the rights, freedoms, and respect of people around me. I started wanting to study hard and dream like my friends to be able to help myself, and my family, especially avoiding things like my mother went through. I am very excited after using the sanitary pads provided by AOC because it helps reduce my mother’s expenses and they are soft and cool, and can be carried anywhere, whether I go to school or to the farm. I am so thankful for the training and I’m feeling more confident to speak up and not be shy when telling my mother about health problems.

Elevate is part of a wider project empowering families with life-transforming knowledge, through Women’s Empowerment Groups in rural villages. Learn more here.