Magdalena Massanja founded Comfy Care12 to provide Tanzanian girls with menstrual health and hygiene education and resuable sanitary pads, to help them stay in school.

 

In 20218, Magdalena traveled to the village of Meserani in the Arusha region of Tanzania to volunteer with a community supporting orphanage centers and local schoolchildren. During her time there, she discovered that many adolescent girls were dropping out of school due to the lack of menstrual products like sanitary pads and underwear. In fact, nearly 48% of girls in rural Tanzania face this challenge, often leading to early marriage, some as young as nine years old.

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This deeply troubling issue caught Magdalena's attention, especially knowing that cultural misconceptions often led to early marriages, with menstruation being wrongly seen as a signal of readiness for marriage. The inability to afford sanitary products also contributed to the stigma, reinforcing the cycle of poverty and diminishing girls’ self-confidence.

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Determined to help, Magdalena organised a small fundraising event with friends and family to purchase reusable sanitary pads that could last up to 18 months. She also began educating both girls and the community about menstrual health and hygiene, aiming to eliminate harmful myths and ensure that menstruation would never prevent a girl from attending school.

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By 2020, Comfy Care12 was officially registered as a social enterprise with the mission to support adolescent girls and young women in Tanzania. With the provision of menstrual products and education, these girls are now able to attend school with confidence, free from the fear of bullying or early marriage.

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Today, Magdalena leads a dedicated team of four women, all working toward the vision of a future where every young woman and adolescent girl in Tanzania has full agency over her menstruation and can actively participate in society.