Talk on dignity

■ An enterprising Durban resident, Sue Barnes, right, recently addressed the Paarl Rotary Club on Project Dignity, her innovative project to develop sanitary wear for women who cannot afford disposable sanitary items. Sue noted that teenage girls in poorer schools were missing school because of this problem, and has developed a washable product made of soft material which has proved popular countrywide and has improved school attendance and pass rates. Her product, known as Subzpads, is distributed by Paarl Rotary through their Girls Talk project. This project sponsors visits to local schools by a female doctor to counsel girls on female health and pregnancy and HIV/Aids prevention. With her, from left, are Rotarian Elsabé Koch, Liza Adlem, Western Cape distributor for Subzpads, and Marita van der Sluys, president of Paarl Rotary. Project Dignity is supported by the Swedish government, which plans to focus on sponsoring the project in the Western Cape.