Dignity for the girl child

MASERU-DEAR Bella, a rapidly growing brand of sanitary pads, is set to make the lives of girls and women from poor backgrounds easier.
Two childhood friends, ’Matefo Morakeng, a journalist and public relations professional and ’Mamahapela Mokuoane, a marketer by profession, are the brains behind Dear Bella. They are changing the menstrual health landscape in the country by providing women and girls with quality sanitary pads.

Three years ago, Morakeng was assisting women in the rural Free State province, South Africa, where she now lives, establish income-generating initiatives when it dawned on her that access to sanitary pads was a real and serious challenge.
One of the exercises was to draw a shopping list, when she realised that they had almost similar items on the list but with almost everyone skipping sanitary pads.“These were women from three different towns so there was no way they could have copied one another,” Morakeng says.

Morakeng says she found that “disturbing” and called for an urgent solution.
“We live with poverty around us, but that there might be women and girls struggling with access to sanitary towels was never ever something I thought of,” she says.

As a result, she did her own research with the intention of understanding how deep the problem was. What she found was “shocking”.
She says she found that there are women and girls so impoverished that they cannot even afford a pack of sanitary pads and have to resort to contraceptive injections from government clinics in order to stop menstruation or use old rags, old newspapers, toilet paper and many other unhygienic substances to manage their menstruation.

“Some girls even have to sleep with older men just to get money for sanitary pads,” Morakeng says.
This problem of lack of affordable sanitary pads, she says, unfortunately affects a lot of women and girls in South Africa, Lesotho and many other African countries.

Now with the Covid-19 pandemic, the situation has become even more dire.
“There had to be a solution which provided them with access to affordable sanitary towels of good quality as well. Not only that, but the solution also had to include a way for women to benefit and make an income from the very product they use on a monthly basis,” she says.

As a result, a new sanitary pad brand called Dear Bella was born.
“The brand is named after my mother, Bella. It is a way to honour her as a mother and a woman who at some point in her life went through the same experiences of women and girls we come across,” Morakeng says.
Although the manufacturing process has been challenging, determination and the will to improve menstrual health for women and girls kept the two women going. “Understanding the process of manufacturing, finding the right manufacturing partner, understanding that not all components will be under one roof and in general understanding the language of manufacturing was key,” she says.

Morakeng says although they are a social enterprise it is not lost on them that they are operating in a highly competitive industry.
“There are a lot of players, including multinationals that have been in the game for a very long time so it can be a struggle when looking at who we are up against. But I believe the way we have positioned ourselves as a brand puts us on the right path to achieving our goal,” she says.
“The key is to never stop learning.”

Today women and girls in South Africa and Lesotho have found a product that they have been searching for, she says, adding that Dear Bella is a quality and affordable product.
The greatest success, according to Morakeng, “is getting that email, phone call or text message from a girl or a woman saying, ‘thank you so much for an amazing product or I love your product so much or a friend sending me a text saying I am so excited, I found your product at a shop in my area.’
“For me, honestly this is where success lies. With that woman or girl who feels they have finally found a solution to their problem,” Morakeng says.

Although Dear Bella was launched in Lesotho in November last year and in South Africa in 2018, it has already managed to do significant work like adopting institutions like Itjareng Vocational Training Centre located at Masianokeng and supplying them with sanitary towels on a regular basis.
’Mamahapela Mokuoane says they have also been supplying some schools in the Mafeteng area.

Mokuoane, who is responsible for the product in the country, jumped at the opportunity to get involved and grow the brand in the country.
“What we want is to eventually have this product provided to all vulnerable women and girls at no cost just like it is the case with condoms,” Mokuoane says.
To achieve this, partnership and support from the government, the private sector and non-governmental organisations is necessary.

“At the end of the day women and girls do not choose to have a menstrual cycle and that time of the month must be as comfortable as possible,” she says.
Dear Bella, she says, is available in more than 200 stores across the country and feedback from customers has been positive.
“We knew we had a good product, but just like any other product, customers are the ones with the last say. Their satisfaction is indeed very humbling,” Mokuoane says.

“Before we started Dear Bella we took into consideration all deficiencies other sanitary towels in the country had and built on them to create a product women and girls would love,” she says.
“For instance, women often complain about the discomfort caused by the wings, bad odour due to scented pads, leakage and pads which are firm on the panties. That is why we made comfort a priority. We also ensured that only unscented towels are produced.”

Mokuoane described the future for Dear Bella as “an exciting one”, adding that “due to positive feedback from the market and based on needs, we are looking at other ranges of sanitary pads and related products which will be will be launched later”.

Lemohang Rakotsoane