Papyrus sanitary pads will be available in shops and supermarkets around Uganda in November this year. The papyrus pads are the invention of Moses Musaazi, a professor in Makerere University's Faculty of Technology. He the papyrus pads, known on the market as MakaPads, to the public in 2003. Musaazi says it was always his intention to make the pads commercially available. He says his main target is to provide the papyrus pads to school girls. He has revisited his proposal, turning the production house into a mass generating factory that will supply the MakaPads at an affordable price. //Cue in: iNow we realized #i Cue out: i# and also be in schools.i// The MakaPads will be available in winged and wingless versions. One pack of 10 papyrus pads will cost between 700 and 1,000 shillings. Professor Musaazi currently employs 60 women at his MakaPads processing sites in Nateete, Kawempe, Kakiri and Kyaka Refugee Camp. At Kyaka Refugee Camp the pads are purchased by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and distributed for free to the refugees. The last UNHCR purchase was for MakaPads worth 29 million shillings. Professor Musaazi explains that the manufacturing process is environmentally friendly and uses local technologies at most stages of production. //Cue in: iThe papyrus is processed #i Cue out: i# then the paper is made.i// Katherine Nakakande, one of the fiber processors at the MakaPads Kawempe site, says that although the work is back-breaking, it is worthwhile. She says she has received technical training and her salary has increased from 50,000 shillings a month to 900,000 shillings.
Patience Atuhaire
Freelancer