Living in the MakaPads World

Processed papyrus paper mixed with water

Sun-dryed white paper waste

Although it is hard to believe a month has passed, I am leaving Kampala tomorrow. My internship with MakaPads had come to an end  but I was lucky to work with MakaPads during such a critical period as MakaPads is in the process of moving to the commercial market. Over the past month, we had the opportunity to see the many stages of production including the full production plant at Kyaka, the Congolese refugee settlement, the different production sites in women’s homes around the slums of Kampala, and the central office and workplace at Makerere University. Here is a quick overview of the production process (see above photos). First, the papyrus is cut from the swamp. Then the fresh-cut papyrus is mixed with water and white paper waste (shredded office paper) to form the absorbent. A second absorbent layer is made from only paper waste and water. Both absorbent layers are left to sun-dry and after, they are softened together. The absorbent layers are covered with an imported synthetic material and  lastly, the pad is sealed. A final quality check is performed at Makerere University, the sanitary pad is packaged, and packaged product is sterilized. This is the production process of the only organic, locally produced sanitary pad in Africa.

Dr. Musaazi of Makerere University invented MakaPads as an affordable solution to lack of sanitary towels for school girls. To keep the cost of the pad low, organizations need to donate the white office paper waste. In order to scale up production to prepare for moving to the commercial market, MakaPads needs more donated paper waste. As a result, Alice and I found ourselves visiting` banks, NGO’s, and embassies. Essentially working as a marketing intern for MakaPads and meeting with the various above organizations was a wonderful way for Alice and I to become familiar with the city of Kampala during our month here. Throughout our work with MakaPads, we visited various large organizations (both local and international), spent many days at Makerere University, one of the foremost universities in east Africa, and we saw the slums of Kampala when we visited the different MakaPads production sites.  We really got a small taste of the many parts of Kampala. But now our time in the city is up and we are off to the village…

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