A new look for Pachamama
As we come up to the fifth year of Pachamama and head into a new and exciting chapter full of ambitious plans, pads and of course pachamamas (and pachapapas!), it’s time for us to relaunch into the world with a new look. Today, we launch our new logo and website!
Take a look here. We hope you like it!
Here you can keep up with all the latest, read about the places we work and the people we support and find all the ways to support us in our mission to end period poverty.
Huge thanks go to Erica and Liam who donated their valuable professional time to design and create our new look. Thanks also continue to go to Liz, who generously set up our first ever website and Beth who designed our original logo – seeing us through the first years of Pachamama.
Exciting News
In other very exciting news, our founder Ella has been named on The Sunday Times Young Power List, highlighting the most inspiring people under 30 across all sectors in the UK.
As you can imagine, we’re pretty overwhelmed by this, not to mention extremely grateful for the recognition which is a testament to the dedication of all the Pachamama volunteers and supporters who give up their time and energy to help us end period poverty.
MESSAGE FROM ELLA
We have had a very exciting first quarter of 2025. The project is growing fast. New volunteers continue to enquire every day and opportunities to collaborate around the world present themselves every week. We really can see a way to effecting meaningful and lasting change on a large scale.
We have now shipped 180,000 pads to support 22,500 people out of period poverty and there is much more to come. Thank you for coming along with us – what a journey it’s been since lockdown hey!
Last, but not least, I’d like to extend a warm Pachamama welcome to all the new volunteers who have joined so far this year. Thanks to Sydney Graham, who profiled us on social media, we have had lots and lots and lots of new volunteers from all over the world. Remember – just one kit of eight pads supports someone out of period poverty for the next five years.
OUR PARTNERSHIPS
As our volunteer network grows so does our capacity to reach more people all over the world. We have some new global partnerships to announce but, following new data that one in five girls here in the UK struggle to access period products, we are on a mission to tackle the issue here at home too.
Ministry of Defence
Earlier in March, Ella, Heidi, Ruth and Jo set out from HQ to launch a Pacha Club at the MOD-run site in Lincoln housing and supporting Afghans welcomed to the UK as part of the resettlement scheme for people (and their families) who worked alongside the military in Afghanistan. We were approached to help set up a club for the women, many of whom are excellent seamstresses.
Having seen the success of our local Chelmsford group for asylum seekers and locals and the benefits it is providing to all members of the group, we were keen to help create a welcoming space for people to come together, take part in an activity and feel a sense of purpose. The club has been a great success with the members even hosting weekly competitions on who can make the most pads. The winner receives a luxurious hamper provided by the centre. The centre will be closing in June as all the families will have found housing. We wish them all a very warm welcome to the UK.
UK
Since we started Pachamama, our distributions in the UK have been important but limited. With the cost-of-living crisis hitting UK families hard, our new partnership with Global Relief Trust has come at the right time. GRT is a UK charity with relief projects all over the globe. Last year they launched their campaign Code Red after identifying the needs of women, girls and people who menstruate in the places they work. Keen to do more in the UK, Code Red lead Samim got in touch to join forces and the rest is history.
As ever with new projects, we are starting small with a trial with 150 people across London, Manchester and Birmingham. If the trial is successful, we will scale this with the aim of supporting thousands of women, girls and people who menstruate all across the UK.
Georgia
The volunteer group Choose to Help in Tbilisi, Georgia is sadly shutting down after three years of tirelessly supporting Ukrainians who have found refuge in their city. As resources run dry, their work is no longer tenable but they are concerned that those who were reliant on them for period products will be left struggling. To help fill the gap, we’ll be supplying Pacha pads to 100 women at risk of being left without menstrual support.
Afghanistan & Pakistan
The UK Charity Forgotten Women is currently travelling to Afghanistan and Pakistan and taking with them Pacha Pads for 25 women for a trial. Forgotten Women will be supporting women who are facing the harsh realities of poverty, food insecurity and limited access to healthcare. The aim is to reach women who have limited resources, ensuring they have access to period products, to improve their quality of life and reinforce independence.
USA
A huge welcome to the many new US-based volunteers. Joy, in Florida, is your point of contact and we continue to supply our long-standing partner, Food Justice DMV, in Washington DC. With increasing insecurity for migrant populations, it feels more important than ever to do our bit and provide a period product which can be relied on no matter the change of circumstances. Kate, our contact at food justice, has told us that the community is under more pressure than ever and that Food Justice is doing what it can do support everyone, including children whose parents have recently been deported. Thank you to our US volunteers for making this possible.
Lebanon
With the overthrow of Assad in Syria, some refugees have returned home from Lebanon whilst others have come the other way. Many have stayed in Lebanon, however, as they have no homes to go back to or they are concerned about the fragility of the situation. With 76% of women, girls and people who menstruate experiencing period poverty in Lebanon, our work continues regardless.
We have been part of a movement in North Lebanon to make menstrual health a priority in the NGO space, along with the other members of our Period Poverty Committee. As such, we are now looking to expand our work to new areas to have the same effect across the country. We launched an open call last month for new partners to apply with a focus on community-led organisations, institutions such as orphanages, schools and health centres and organisations supporting war-affected areas. We’ve had lots of interest and are currently conducting our needs assessments to reach the people most in need first. If you know anyone that might be interested in working with us in Lebanon, please pass on our partnership form.
Our latest campaign in Lebanon is the Pacha Bubba project which is a collaboration with Jigsaw Charity to support pregnant and postpartum mothers in rural areas. Our reusable pads are provided as postpartum pads during awareness sessions on pregnancy, new born care, and breastfeeding, delivered by a qualified midwife.
As many will know already, in November we sent 75,000 items of aid in a container of clothes, shoes, blankets (and 34k pacha pads!). That aid is now being distributed by The Free Shop Lebanon. For now, we are hanging up our container boots as we focus on other very exciting projects in the works. That said, we will be sending a further 40,000 pads to Lebanon by February 2026 so keep your eyes peeled!
Syria
The overthrow of Assad has been one of the few pieces of good news in recent global events and we are so thrilled for our Syrian friends and colleagues who are now able to return, visit family members and live without fear. Over the coming months we will be supporting 500 women, girls and people who menstruate with menstrual health education workshops and our reusable pads.
Our first distribution, financed by The Free Shop, went ahead in April with 150 women, girls and people who menstruate in Al Zabadani in partnership with Jigsaw Charity, Endless Medical Advantage and The Free Shop Lebanon. The pads were delivered to our menstrual health coach by our very own Alice Corrigan, Pachamama trustee and Chair of the Free Shop, who was able to enter Syria for the first time since the war ended.
Our sessions are designed to break down menstrual taboos by encouraging open conversations at home. While addressing the widespread myth that showering during your period is harmful, our menstrual health lead, Mariam, reported that a girl nudged her mother and said:
“Listen to what the doctor is saying!”
We have seen these sessions spark ripple effects in communities across Lebanon -and we're excited to see the same impact unfold in Syria.
Singapore
The amazing Kate Hall who set up a pacha club at New Hall school in Essex has now moved to Singapore and started a club in her new school, North London Collegiate School. This will allow us to reach people in the Asia Pacific for the first time. We’re excited to say that the Singapore-made pads will be distributed by our news partners GRT Malaysia. Our first trial is scheduled for the summer and we’ll keep you updated!
Uganda
Another new partner trial
Rita, who runs the Rwenzori Women for Health (RWFH) project, took 26 Pacha Kits in her luggage on her most recent trip from the UK to Kagando, Uganda, where she has been working to support vulnerable communities for the past 15 years.A further 50 kits have also been sent by post by St Mary’s Church near HQ in Great Baddow and we are hoping to make regular shipments this way. The pads are all distributed along with menstrual health education delivered by qualified nurses.
Message from Rita on her return home:
“An immense thank you for the pads - I can't start to tell you how delighted with the pads the women were.
I had decided to set aside six bags to give to the teenage girls who come to the Jaja day: this is a monthly programme for kids and young adults with HIV. They meet at Kagando hospital and the day is run by volunteers: the group are given a good breakfast, have fellowship, a good lunch and lots of play. Their health status and any concerns are also addressed.
The rest, I and my team took to a rural village up in the Rwenzori Hills. We had sent word that we wanted to see 20 young mums/young women. When we arrived they were waiting for us in a classroom (there is a chapel and a small school, the rest of the village is scattered in the hills). We told them why we wanted to see them, what we were going to talk about and that we had pads to give them. That was a mistake....we left them for a short while and on return we were inundated. Word had spread! We had to hand out pads, most got a couple and the 20 girls who were there first got the bags. The need is immense.”
And a message from Rita’s colleague, on the ground in Kagando, on hearing that more Pacha Pads are on their way: “Wow, now we shall slowly beat girl child school drop outs.”
18,000 pads off to Kigezi High School and our friends at Pass It On Trust
Last but by no means least, we have just waved off 18,000 reusable pads en route to Uganda. Following an extremely successful trial with Kigezi High School in Kabale, which saw 98% of students report improved attendance, we are sending pads for a further 1,500 students who are currently missing school every month because of period poverty.
We’re also sending pads for another 750 women, girls and people who menstruate in Amogo village, Amuria and Aloet village, Soroti in partnership with our long-standing partner Pass It On Trust Uganda. This will reach women and girls in rural areas with limited resources and will support more young people to stay in education.
Here’s what Hellen, CEO and Founder of PIOTU had to say:
“Girls and women must have an equal opportunity to a quality education. At Pass it on Trust Uganda, we believe that education is a tool of change in transforming communities. Period poverty is real and that makes our partnership with Pachamama worthwhile and worth celebrating! No Girl should miss school on account of their natural biological cycle.”
OTHER NEWS
School Leadership Programme
New Hall School in Essex has agreed to help us create the Pachamama school leadership award. The programme content will be informed by student focus groups run by Ella over a number of weeks, followed by a pilot that New Hall’s students will engage with. Once we have a fully-fledged, road-tested programme, the plan is to roll it out nationally. The objectives are to raise the profile and destigmatise menstruation among young people, to create a regular source of pads to help us increase our stocks and to provide students with opportunities to take on roles that will give them a taster of social entrepreneurialism and help them with university and job applications in the future.
Corporate workshop
Last month, Ella ran a very successful workshop at the London offices of the sustainable hygiene brand, Wild. 25 enthusiastic employees used their volunteering hours to hear Ella’s talk and to make and prep pads. It was a great afternoon filled with budding Pachamama volunteers, pads and pups -and a very productive production line! We’ll be back again soon with another group. If you’re in and around Essex/London and would like to book in a corporate workshop with us, pop us an email for more info: thepachamamaproject@outlook.com
Helen’s Wing Walking
Many of you will know Helen from our active volunteer Facebook groups as the fountain of knowledge always ready to answer queries and offer advice. You may also remember that she leaped out of a plane on her 70th birthday last year raising over £2,000 for Pachamama! As if that wasn’t enough, this year she is embarking on another crazy challenge – wing walking (yes, walking on the wings of a plane!). Please do support her (and us) with your spare pennies. £10 gets a pack of pads to someone for the next five years, keeping girls in school, women in work and restoring dignity. That said, any amount will go a long way to help us tackle global period poverty, one reusable pad at a time. If you’d like to donate, find Helen’s Go Fund Me here!
Thanks, as always to everyone involved. Special mentions go to The Dalia and Ramzi Charitable Trust for funding much of our work in Lebanon, and to Big Yellow, County Linen and the Meadows – all businesses local to HQ that support us immeasurably. We have ambitious goals and, together, we are confident we can reach them.
“Never Underestimate the power of a small group of committed people to change the world”
Margaret Mead, US Anthropologist 1901-1978