Aaliyah arrived at Nazareth Catholic College in July 2018, having recently moved to Adelaide from Melbourne. Aaliyah’s mother, Susan, chose Nazareth because of her own connection with the previous Campus Principal, Phil Lewis, whom she had met as a student at Cabra College. Phil had such a positive impact on her life, that Susan knew Nazareth would be the right school for Aaliyah.
Aaliyah was inspired to take on this project as a result of Susan’s own philanthropic work - as the founder and CEO of ‘In2Ed Africa’, Susan has already built two schools in Africa to provide a much needed opportunity for education and making a real difference for children in these two communities. Unfortunately, the arrival of COVID meant that the two schools had to temporarily close their doors last year, but they were eventually able to offer regular dance and drumming sessions for the children. Aaliyah noticed that some of the female students at the school in Korogocho, Kenya were regularly absent from these sessions and wondered why this was happening. Further investigations with relatives in Korogocho revealed that a lack of sanitary products meant that these students were too embarrassed and felt unable to go to school for a number of days each month. Aaliyah felt a need to do something about this and as a result her ‘In2 Eradicating Period Poverty’ Project was created. Aaliyah now had her own way of making a difference!
From the initial funds raised, Aaliyah sourced a sewing machine and employed a person to begin making sustainable sanitary wear. Using a template sourced from the internet and with suggested improvements incorporated into the design, nearly 300 packs have been manufactured already. A recently held fundraising event has meant that a second sewing machine has been sourced and the search is on for a second employee to assist with Aaliyah’s initial goal of 1000 packs containing underwear, sustainable liners and pads for girls in Korogocho. Aaliyah’s aim is to provide packs for all 2000 girls throughout the village with an ultimate ambition to eliminate period poverty throughout all of Kenya!
You can support the In2 Eradicating Period Poverty project via this fundriasing page.
Congratulations Aaliyah!
Four students from Catholic schools attended a ceremony for the Governor’s Civics Awards for Schools at Government House last month.
