Network Member Profile: Bear Earth CiC

Bear Earth is a Community Interest Company (CIC) based in Leicester that works to support women and girls in the UK, Sri Lanka & Nepal to access a range of both educational tools and materials to help dispel the myths and stereotypes attached to women and periods in different cultures and communities.

It’s actually shocking to think that in today’s society it is thought that 87% of girls and women in the UK have removed themselves from school and the workplace due to not having access to sanitary products.

If we then look at places such as Sri Lanka & Nepal where there isn’t the infrastructure and sanitation to enable girls and women to use products that we in the West take for granted, places where the use of rags and cloths that are sometimes shared between girls and female family members is commonplace. Places where girls and women who are having their periods are made to stay out of the family home and sleep in sheds, due to cultural beliefs and myths.

Working to support women and girls to be educated and aware of ways to access materials and products, how to keep those products clean and also how to safely dispose of them is a crucial part of the work that’s being carried out by Bear Earth.

We are currently looking to work with a number of local groups in particular schools and community textile and sewing groups to create a mini-movement of ‘Bear Earth Ambassadors’ who will work with us to create reusable sanitary products that will be packaged up and sent to our partner organisations in Sri Lanka & Nepal, eventually providing patterns and materials to support long term sustainability.

This will support the additional educational and community work taking place through our ‘It’s Natural, It’s Normal, It’s Nature’ programme, working to educate and create safe spaces for conversations and discussion to take place with individuals on the ground, at the heart of communities, including school leaders and community elders.

If you would like to get involved and support the work of Bear Earth, know someone who would like to support or want some further information on how to get involved then please do get in touch.

Read more on the website: www.bearearth.org