Ukraine war 'leads to rise in period pad donations'

Ella Lambert runs The Pachamama Project as well as studying full time at Bristol University

A student who works to help women out of period poverty says the situation in Ukraine has created a "wave of empathy" towards refugees.

Ella Lambert, 22, from Chelmsford, Essex, said the crisis has made people think "it could be them".

In March 2020 she started the Pachamama Project to make reusable sanitary pads, sewn by volunteers, for refugees.

She says she's seen more people coming forward to help since the Ukraine crisis began.

As well as making the reusable pads, which she aims to send on to Ukrainian refugees in the future, Miss Lambert is fundraising to provide disposable sanitary products for those who have fled.

The group has been raising funds to buy disposable sanitary products in Romania and Moldova to be handed out to Ukrainian refugees

The group currently has about 1,500 volunteers who make fabric pads called Pacha Pads.

Since the Ukrainian conflict began it has seen an extra 200 people sign up as they have been "hugely affected by what they have seen," Miss Lambert said.

The group, which she started in August 2020, has so far made about 50,000 pads.

"We're seeing this wave of empathy for Ukrainian refugees, as well as all refugees regardless of where they're from, and we're getting more pads through the door.

"It's not just help for Ukrainians - it's made people think how it could be them."

Many items for the project had been stored at Ella's family home in Chelmsford, Essex......

but since a free storage facility was found the room looks a lot more organised and tidy

The reusable pads are currently sent to refugees and vulnerable people in Greece, Turkey, USA, UK, Lebanon and Uganda and she hopes to send them to Ukraine and its border countries as soon as a supply chain can be created.

Women are given four pads each, which are washable and can be reused for about five years, the Pachamama Project says.

Miss Lambert is in her third year at Bristol University where she is studying languages - including Spanish and Russian.

In 2020 she was preparing to go to Russia as part of her course, but due to the Covid-19 pandemic her plans were halted.

"I have no plans to go to Russia, but I am grateful I know the language.

"I want to be useful, what an honour it would be to go into the situation and communicate directly and not through translators," she added.

More than 50,000 Pacha Pads and their bags have been made by volunteers and handed out to about 5,000 women

"I think my whole world has been flipped upside down and my mind has been opened to so much suffering and kindness.

"It's like taking my blindfold off.

"We're changing people's minds, people who didn't know about period poverty and now they have so much knowledge and understanding.

"It's almost like a period revolution is going on."

A consignment of Pacha Pads were sent to sent to Lebanon in February