Tilly-Perez Foundation, a non-governmental organisation in the Tarkwa Nsuaem Municipality of the Western Region, has called for the need to pay special attentionto adolescents and women among the displaced, due to the Appiatse explosion.
The Foundation made the appeal after donating boxes of sanitary pads, carbolic soaps, dozens of undergarments, as well as new and used clothes to the displaced victims of the tragic explosion.
According to the NGO, as most donations to support the affected focused on clothing and food, it was critical not to forget that girls and women among them also had peculiar needs.
Speaking after presenting the items, President of the Tilly-Perez Foundation, Mrs Matilda Adamah, said unfortunate and unexpected disasters happen when everybody, especially adolescents and women, were ill-prepared for it.
She said it was important for society to know that a woman, unlike most men, needs to change undergarments very frequently, and that was the reason why they responded to calls for support by providing more clothes and food.
“Even though the NGO is not exclusively for females, the first on the agenda while discussing what to do to help the situation was the issue of women, who may menstruate, hence, the need to cover that gap,” MrsAdamah said.
She said the Tilly-Perez Foundation thought that providing sanitary towels for the women was going to help them go about their tasks, and especially during the current situation of being confined and displaced.
She said personal hygiene for the girls and women was important, and no amount of sanitary supplies was enough, especially under the circumstances.
“We have distributed some and handed the rest to the management of the facility, and our next thing is to see how best to educate them on their hygiene – that would take them through the use and disposal of the used pads in the environment they find themselves,” she said.
She said in past years, Perez Foundation partnered with other organisations to support children during festive occasions and special moments, and supported causes geared towards children’s education, adding, “We have been doing that for the past 11 years.”
The foundation, Mrs Adamah said, was taking care of six girls, ready to be enrolled in skills training and university.
The Director of the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) of the Prestea Huni-Valley Municipality, Mr Francis Abeiku Yankah, commended the NGO for the support.
“This unfortunate situation could not have been contained without the support from organisations such as Perez Foundation – your support for the needy is very unique and very important,” he said, and appealed to other members of the business community and the larger society to ensure speedy rehabilitation of the affected people.