Meet SHE Global Health Interns

Please welcome our four SHE Global Health Interns.  We’re incredibly excited to have such a diverse team working from a variety of geographic locations—New York City; Brunswick, Maine; Chicago, Illinois; and the Canadian Arctic— to support SHE Rwanda’s Health Education and Advocacy efforts as well as SHE’s Global Health projects. 

Meet Sereena, Del, Natalie and Natalie! Their perspectives are unique and their passion for global health is evident. You will get to learn more about each of our interns in the near future! 

Sereena Singh is currently an MPH student at New York University concentrating in Community and International Health. For her undergrad, she attended Rutgers University graduating with Bachelor’s in Public Health. Initially, her interest in Public Health began at Rutgers and her passion for women’s health peaked ever further throughout her studies.

Sereena has been working at the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine as a clinical research coordinator for about 2 years now. She recently worked at UNICEF India on international development issues for local villages in Bhopal. In her free time, she enjoys arts and crafts, especially DIY projects. She also has a guilty pleasure for reality shows, and will watch almost anything!

Delaram Farshad recently completed her MPH focusing on Maternal & Child, at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver. Prior to joining the team, Delaram worked with UNICEF NY HQ- Nutrition & Health Unit and was involved in various community nutrition and rural health projects abroad in India, Swaziland and Bolivia. She is passionate about global health advocacy, women's health and community empowerment. Currently, Delaram is living in the Arctic region of Canada, working to promote health, community development and learning traditional Indigenous culture. Delaram's love for diversity and curiosity for travel, has afforded her opportunities to work in diverse rural and cross cultural settings, interacting with people from all walks of life. In her spare time, she loves to exercise her creativity, interact with people from different cultures and practice yoga.

Meet one of our ten pilot schools: Gs Gikaya

Gs Gikaya is one of the 10 schools that will be buying our pads during our industrial-scale pilot.  It's considered one of the model schools with girl-friendly sanitation facilities compared to many of the schools we have visited. This school is also renowned also for their warm welcoming.

A warm welcome from Gs Gikaya students!

When Nadia, Tash, and I arrived, we were welcomed by kids running towards you to receive you with a hug and sweet songs.

SHE will be providing Menstrual Health Management training at each of our ten pilot schools, but before we begin training, we needed to revisit the school campus so we can tailor our curriculum based on the school's sanitation facilities. 

Gs Giyaka is equipped with a girls' room that contains basic materials that a girl should use when she get her menses at school and is unprepared. Because this school is led by a woman, the issues of menstruation seem better well addressed than at other schools. The school teachers discuss the topic after class and instruct younger girls how to manage their menstruation, but challenges to fully support girls' menstrual needs still exist. 

SHE's Nadia with Gs Gikaya's headmistress in the school's girl's room

The headmistress reported that even though they have pads in stock to give to a girl who is unprepared when her period arrives, many of girls still don’t have means to purchase a pack of pads by themselves. Therefore, they sometimes try to game the system by having their friends ask for pads on their behalf so they can have enough products. Painkillers are also not available at school, so sometimes the headmistress allow girls to return home if they have too much pain. 

Supporting girls' menstrual needs at school will not be solved simply by providing access to more pads. That's why SHE is instigating at the national level to ensure that budgets and resources are increased at the school level, so girls will be provided increased access to education, menstrual products, and services.

I wonder whether schools led by women care more about menstruation issues or if it's just this school that makes an effort to support its girls and boys equally to help them stay in school. In any regard, we can't wait to learn more from the girls of Gs Gikaya!

- Gerardine, Marketing and Research Officer

SHE's MacGyver at work!

SHE's Macgyver-in-Residence Tyson Huffman is our lead technicians at our production site in Ngoma district. He is living out his title to the fullest when he RECLAIMED (sound familiar? It's one of SHE's vision words) beer bottle caps to serve as washers. Ingenuity at its best!

We're bringing sexy back, to manufacturing - SHE's Q2 Report

Founder and Chief Instigating Officer Elizabeth Scharpf

What happens when you mix President Bill Clinton, Ben and Jerry's, disc refiners, and our LaunchPad? You'll get our latest quarterly update! Check it out and spread the word, bird!
Read our latest quarterly report!