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The Standard e-Paper
Kenya's Bold Newspaper
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Sanitary pads crisis: Zimbabwe's girls rely on rags, paper, leaves

When her monthly period comes, 17-year-old Maria Chaodza dismantles a home-made pillowcase and picks out pieces of its worn stuffing - an old, cloth rug - which she uses in place of the sanitary pad she cannot afford.

Menstruation means missing school; Chaodza feels too ashamed of her makeshift pad to show her face as she battles days of heavy bleeding.

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