By Matthew PanterShrewsburyEducation
Boys at a Shropshire college have been developing sewing skills in a project to help women and girls in Ethiopia.Subscribe to our daily newsletter!Sign Up
Year 10 and 12 students at Acton Burnell-based Concord College have been learning how to sew and to place and cut patterns efficiently while helping to create ‘period packs.’
The packs are then sent to Ethiopia where the college already has links through fundraising.
According to UNESCO, one in 10 girls in Sub-Saharan Africa miss school because they don’t have menstrual products or adequate toilets.
The Shropshire students hope that period packs will support more girls in completing their education
The students worked for an hour every week during term time and made a total of 89 pads as they learned their new skills, benefiting from the experience of working together.
Some students were able to use the work they did as part of their Duke of Edinburgh Awards.
Concord Principal Dr Michael Truss has spoken of the ‘pride’ the college has in student charity and volunteering.
He said: “Kindness is one of the three pillars of Concord’s ethos and the very practical and direct help of making something for someone else, something that will improve their day-to-day life, is one of many ways in which our students show their kindness.
“It is something the college is very proud of and the students who have contributed their time, thought and handiwork to this project are a brilliant example of this.”
The group has been led by Mrs Janet Newton, a member of Concord’s pastoral team, who in addition to recruiting and tutoring the students devised a way in which they could work together to make the pads. She also made beautiful draw-string bags to hold six pads each.