Giving girls back their dignity

Over 400 girls from Nonhlevu Secondary School in Groutville will now be able to attend school on a regular basis thanks to Margaret Hirsch.
Hirsch visited Nonhlevu on Friday, February 28, where she presented all the girls with dignity panty packs as part of the programme she is running for girls across the country.
The packs are washable and reusable and Hirsch gives them away to underprivileged girls who are sometimes unable to go to school because they can not afford to buy sanitary pads needed during the monthly menstruation cycle.
“It breaks my heart that nine million girls in underprivileged areas around country miss out on sometimes a week of school when they have their periods,” said Hirsch.
She took on the task of promoting the girls dignity project throughout South Africa when she won the Business Woman of the Year Award (entrepreneur) in 2012. The packs are designed and made by Sue Barnes and last for five years.
Hirsch is well known for her company Hirsch’s, which she started with her husband Allan 35 years ago with just R900.
Her visit to Nonhlevu also saw three girls taking home thousands of rands after winning an essay competition set by her at the end of last year entitled “Looking back”.
She said she was pleased to read the winning essays, which were about goal setting and had been very impressed with the winning essay from Senamile Mhlongo who had a clear, defined vision of where she wanted to be in the future. Mhlongo won R5000, Amanda Gwadidi R3000 and Lady Peace Sikhakhane R1000.
Hirsch’s message to the girls was: “Work hard, do the best you can, do not have babies too young and find the right man.”