Six years ago, when Wambui Njoroge first learned that there are girls who miss school because they could not afford sanitary products, she was dismayed. As a university student without a steady income, she struggled to figure out how she could help.
“Back in 2020, a friend who works in the tourism and hospitality industry went for a training camp in Kajiado, and when he came back, he talked about the hardships some of the people there were facing,” she recalls. “Of everything he mentioned, the one that stayed with me was the lack of sanitary towels.
I’d never gone without them myself, so it was shocking to learn that some girls missed school every month because they had no pads. But at the time, it felt like too big a responsibility for me to take on. The only money I had was the lunch and transport allowance my parents would give me for school. I kept telling myself that it was the Government’s responsibility.”
Six months later, another friend sent her a newspaper article reporting a surge in teenage pregnancies among schoolgirls, with some girls exchanging sex for sanitary pads.
“That’s when I realised that I couldn’t just keep pointing to someone else to solve the problem; I needed to step up, speak to whoever I needed to speak to and do whatever needed to be done.”
She embarked on what she thought would be a one-off initiative: ask women in her circle to donate pads and deliver them to a school in Kajiado. But as she mobilised resources, people encouraged her to formalise the effort.
“Pads Drive Africa, which is what we’re called today, was never built by just one person,” says Wambui, now the organisation’s director. “One friend helped me come up with the name, another came up with the slogan, someone else designed the logo, and even the colours were chosen by a different person. People simply came on board and shared their ideas. All I had was the vision.”
That vision kept evolving. After distributing pads to more than 300 girls in one outreach, Wambui felt something was missing.
“Everyone else was celebrating, but I felt like something was missing. These girls knew my team and me, but they didn’t know who was really helping them. Because truthfully, even the burden I had to do this came from God. I wanted the girls to understand that too, so that even when we weren’t there and they found themselves in need again, they would know who to turn to.”
Wambui Njoroge, director of Pads Drive Africa.
Photo credit: Pool
This gave birth to the evangelistic arm of Pads Drive Africa, which focuses on helping adolescents develop a strong sense of identity in God. Rather than moving quickly from one community to another, the team spends years in a single location, partnering with one school at a time. They distribute pads to last six months, provide menstrual health education, introduce young people to the Christian faith, and offer sex education, leadership and advocacy training.
“We’ve worked in just three communities so far: Eremit, Enkoireroi and Olekimunke, all in Kajiado County,” Wambui says. “We could have chosen to move from one community to another, but our goal is lasting individual impact. We want to repeat the lessons as many times as necessary to ensure they have fully grasped the information before we move on.”
“For Eremit, for example, by the time we were leaving, the Government had provided water for the community, and we were able to give them reusable sanitary pads that could last them two to three years. There are about 80 girls enrolled at the school, and before the Pads Drive Africa team came, chronic absenteeism was common among them. Even when they came to school, they participated far less than the other students, largely because of the pain, fear and discomfort that came with their periods. Their dresses would sometimes be stained, and they often didn’t know how to excuse themselves or seek help,” says Madam Helen, a teacher at Enkoireroi Primary School.
She says, “Since the programme began, there is no longer any absenteeism, and the girls are now much more comfortable and confident during their periods. They participate actively in class, take part in sports and athletics, and there has also been a noticeable improvement in some of their academic performance.”
One pupil adds: “Before, I used a leso or my underwear, and I would regularly miss school for the three or four days that I was on my period. Every time, I felt really bad about it and was afraid the teacher would punish me. But now I never miss school unless I am sick, and I’m able to participate freely in class without shying away.”
Beyond menstrual health, the organisation’s presence has shifted attitudes towards early marriage.
“When they saw young women like us who were educated, confident and pursuing careers, it expanded what they believed was possible,” Wambui says. She recalls meeting girls who were in Grade Three when the programme began: “Six years later, they had all made it to junior high school. None of them had gotten pregnant or married, which had been a really common thing in the community. It was such a joy to see that they remembered what we taught them, including the fact that God loves them.”
Pads Drive Africa has directly reached more than 600 girls and young people, but sustaining the work has not been easy. Remote communities mean poor roads, floods and drought. Wambui remembers one resupply trip to Eremit when heavy rains turned a dry riverbed into a raging stream.
“That was the first day I cried,” she says. “I remember asking God, ‘Why do I have to go through this for girls I’ve never met?’ But then we kept going because we knew the girls were waiting for us.”
Building trust within the community also took time. “Meaningful change only became possible once teachers, churches and community leaders began to see themselves as partners in the work,” she says.
Looking ahead, she hopes to deepen the organisation’s mentorship programmes, leadership clubs and discipleship curriculum while expanding to more communities through partnerships.
“We’re not just looking for people to donate money, although we need that too,” she says. “We’re looking for partners who believe in what we’re doing and want to help us build something that will outlast us.”
Years after she first wondered whether one university student could make a difference, Wambui now urges: “Don’t despise your youth. If God has called you to do something, don’t wait until you reach a certain age. Just start.”
