By Esther Wright
It is on record that the Aid Pioneers sent over two tons of flannel to Sierra Leone in February for the production of menstrual hygiene underwear kits.
Aid Pioneers are also celebrating another major success: the transportation of over two tons of flannel to Sierra Leone, West Africa to their long-term cooperation partner Uman Tok for the production of over 12.000 menstrual hygiene underwear kits.
The Sierra Leonean NGO Uman Tok produces menstrual hygiene underwear kits to enable young women to attend school or work during their periods, reducing the number of days absent due to menstruation. Aid Pioneers has supported Uman Tok not only in matters of funding and project planning, but also in the transportation over two tons of flannel, the main component of the kits necessary to produce over 12.000 menstrual hygiene underwear kits due to local scarcity.
With the powerful support of Uman Tok, Aid Pioneers was also able to deliver life-saving medical materials to Freetown for the first time within 6 days in reaction to the tanker explosion in November 2021. In the course of this, Aid Pioneers was able to build further partnerships locally, especially with regional hospitals.
Four Aid Pioneers team members from Germany, Ann-Sophie Semer, Johanna Körner, Julian Adler and Alexis Broschek, were able to meet in person in Sierra Leone in February with the inspiring women and men behind Uman Tok, who make this NGO such a remarkable organization.
The team was also able to learn about the entire underwear production process in detail. With this newly gained expertise, Aid Pioneers aims to continue to actively support the growth of the NGO Uman Tok, working together to positively impact the lives of even more young women in Sierra Leone and improve gender inequality.
During their stay, the team also visited the 34 Military Hospital, the Connaught Hospital, as well as the Ola During Children’s Hospital. It was a great honor for the team to be able to visit these important facilities and to have the opportunity to exchange ideas with the doctors and health care managers on site.
The Aid Pioneers team is already working to expand partnerships in this field and to support the health care system in Freetown by providing locally unavailable medicines and medical equipment.
Thanks to the intensive meetings with representatives of the health sector and embassy, the team was able to gain a deeper problem awareness for the current situation in Sierra Leone. Encouraged by the open-mindedness and the drive of the Sierra Leoneans, Aid Pioneers would like to continue a close exchange with the responsible persons on site in order to expand the projects together.
Aid Pioneers is also looking for additional local organizations that need support with their projects. A specific focus of Aid Pioneers is to support organizations with goods from Europe that are not available locally.
Additionally, Aid Pioneers supports to achieve scalable growth. The team is always looking forward to exciting organizations that have great visions for Sierra Leone and want to improve the lives of individuals in a meaningful way. If you have ideas, the team welcomes submissions.
