In 2019, Microfinancing Partners in Africa funded a new microfinance scholarship program to help 50 young women at St. Francis Vocational School in Poli Singisi, Tanzania, courtesy of a $25,000 grant from CPPS Heritage Fund. This pay-it-forward program provides critical scholarship support and sanitary pads for female teen students learning vocational skills, (cooking, sewing, etc.). Program supervisor Sr. Aloysia Nyange, CPS, offered these words of appreciation:“ Thank you so much for the scholarships and sanitary towels, basic needs for the young women in our school. Because of their poor backgrounds, most of them afford just half or a quarter of the school fees. Most of their parents are peasant workers and barely make ends meet.
The students are doing well. Some students are now saying when they finish the school, they will open their own business. As for pads, most of them were using pieces of material which were washed after use on a monthly basis. Providing them with pads is a great joy and makes them feel more comfortable as women. This supply of pads has cut down costs for toiletries, and students can spend more time on their studies with less worry. One student was so happy: ‘Thank you for the gift of pads. It also makes us feel free and comfortable when we go for fieldwork experience in different hotels in Arusha, Moshi and Zanzibar to serve visitors and work in the kitchen.”