Opinion | Dignity Is Not a Luxury: Why Eswatini Must Stand With Ncamiso Pads and Our Girls

28 January, 2026

Tlalane Dlamini

There are moments when a nation must pause and ask itself difficult questions. One such question is this: Why, in 2026, are young girls still missing school because they cannot afford sanitary pads? Even more troubling is the follow-up: Why is this burden still being carried by individuals using their own pockets, rather than by policy, systems, and collective national will?

For over a decade, Ncamiso Mahlalela, affectionately known as Pads Guy , through the Helping Hand Foundation, has quietly answered a crisis the nation has largely ignored. With no guaranteed funding, no state salary, and little formal recognition, he has stepped in where institutions have failed, providing sanitary pads, food, clothing, warmth, and hope to some of Eswatini’s most vulnerable communities.

This is not charity. This is justice work.

Menstruation is not a choice. It is a biological reality. And yet, in many communities, a girl’s education, dignity, and future are disrupted simply because she cannot afford basic sanitary products. The harsh irony is that condoms are sold freely and widely, while sanitary pads, essential for dignity and education, remain inaccessible to many girls. Sex is a choice. Menstruation is not. That distinction should matter to policy makers.

When girls miss school every month, they fall behind academically, lose confidence, and in some cases drop out entirely. This is how poverty reproduces itself. This is how inequality becomes generational. And this is how silence becomes complicity.

What makes the work of Helping Hand Foundation even more remarkable is how it is done. Donation bins for sanitary pads have been placed in unexpected, everyday spaces , cafés, lounges, grills, and community hangouts. These are places people least expect to encounter social responsibility, yet they are precisely where it belongs: woven into daily life, normalised, visible, and accessible.

At Skippyville Café, Dé Lounge, 23:28 Lounge, Molly’s House of Grills, The Smoke & Grill, The XChange Lounge & Shisanyama, and Olive Café, ordinary citizens are being invited to perform extraordinary acts simply by donating a pack of pads. A small act. A massive impact.

This past Saturday, January 24, 2026, the Helping Hand Foundation stood side by side with the people of Mlindazwe, Ezulwini. Children, mothers, fathers, brothers, and sisters gathered not just for donated clothing and a warm meal, but for something deeper: dignity, connection, and hope. It was a reminder that community is still alive even when systems are slow to respond.

Yet, while we applaud this kindness, we must confront an uncomfortable truth: this work should not depend on one man’s sacrifice or the goodwill of donors alone.

Government ministries, corporate Eswatini, development partners, and policy makers must ask themselves why grassroots heroes like Ncamiso Mahlalela are not formally supported, funded, or scaled. Why are sanitary pads not treated as essential educational supplies? Why are there no permanent national frameworks ensuring that no girl misses school because of her period?

If we are serious about keeping the girl child in school, then menstrual health must move from charity to policy. From campaigns to budgets. From hashtags to legislation.

Donors and the private sector, too, have a role to play. Supporting initiatives like Helping Hand Foundation is not just corporate social responsibility , it is an investment in education, gender equality, and national development. Every girl empowered today becomes a stronger woman tomorrow. And stronger women build stronger nations.

To the public: this is your call to action. Donate a pad. Talk about menstruation without shame. Support the organisations already doing the work. Demand better from leaders.

To policy makers: look closely at Ncamiso Pads. He is not an outlier, he is a mirror reflecting what is possible when compassion meets action. Imagine what could be achieved if this work were resourced, institutionalised, and expanded nationally.