Desmond’s Story

“My name is Desmond Hale; the head teacher of Homu SDA Primary School and I am glad to work with Oxfam.”

Seated in a classroom in his school up in the highlands of Papua New Guinea, Desmond is responsible for a school roll of 487 students comprising an almost equal number of boys and girls. 

A number of these female students have just started menstruating and, as is the case with many schools like this one in Homu, they often have neither the resources nor the facilities to help girls manage their menstruation. As a result, they often miss school and sometimes dropout altogether. In a community where the odds are often stacked so highly against women and girls, a lack of education can often push these girls and young women even further into poverty. 

Desmond recounts how the Oxfam team provided reusable pads as well as classes on menstrual health and hygiene management. 

“For the first time they were a bit shy to come and ask (for the pads),” Desmond explains. “But then teachers talked to the students, especially the female students, and so now they understand that it’s just part of life – they don’t have to be ashamed of it.”

“But if someone is shy to come and ask the other students will come and ask on their behalf.”

Desmond admits though that for a topic that is often taboo in communities, discussing it amongst students was not without its challenges. 

“When we discuss these issues in our first meeting in the school back then, the boys were laughing and joking but now they don’t anymore because they understand that it is a natural process in the body that makes girls special. They come to an understanding that it is part of life.” 

Smiling, he proudly notes that now most of these girls who have used these pads have successfully graduated from his primary school.   

Oxfam’s work in Homu through the Kōtui programme isn’t just focused on menstrual health management. 

“We also have the water supply project that is passing through the school and to our clinic,” says Desmond. “It is very helpful because teachers are now using the taps for washing. Also, the students, especially the boarding students.” 

This is particularly significant because Homu SDA Primary School is the only primary school that has boarding students.

“We are glad for that service,” says Desmond. 

“But I am happy because I am also a local man here. I am so grateful that you are also serving the community because after all I am going back to the village and so this service will also reach me when I am in the village.“