SOWETO COMMUNITY · KENYA
We started with sanitary pads.
We grew into a hospital.
Revelation Medical Services began as a community clinic responding to a health crisis in Soweto — and is now a duly registered NGO delivering full medical care to the community that shaped it.
How We Started
Revelation Medical Services is now a duly registered NGO. Our founders started as a community clinic following widespread communicable and non-communicable disease in the Soweto community — with STIs among youth, especially young women, as the most urgent concern.
Lack of sanitary pads and knowledge of menstrual hygiene kept women from their day-to-day lives and left them more vulnerable to infection. Teenage girls missed school during their periods, afraid of soiling themselves in class — the rags they used offered no real protection. Young women struggled to carry out their daily economic activities, deepening the poverty around them.
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The use of rags for menstrual protection also affected reproductive health, increasing the risk of STIs. Opportunistic men took advantage of women in desperate need of sanitary pads, luring them into irresponsible sexual acts — practices that contributed to rising rates of STIs, including HIV and AIDS, in the Soweto community, and to unwanted pregnancies. Girls dropped out of school because of teenage pregnancy, and some lost their lives to unsafe abortions. Domestic budgets stretched thin by socio-economic hardship left many girls and young women unable to buy sanitary pads at all.
Revelation Medical Services provides reusable pads to vulnerable school girls and other vulnerable women, free of charge. They are durable, easy to clean, comfortable and safe to use — and of better quality than disposable pads. Because of that durability, girls from Soweto slums no longer miss school during their periods, and young women can go about their daily social and economic activities without fear of embarrassment or stigmatization.
Our challenge is having enough product for everyone who needs it. Our target is to reach every needy girl and young woman — not only in Soweto slums, but across the whole of Kenya. Any individual or organization willing to support us in reaching that goal is deeply appreciated.
Mission
To provide free, dignified menstrual health support and accessible medical care to vulnerable women, girls, and families in our community.
Vision
A Kenya where every needy girl and young woman — in Soweto and beyond — has what she needs to stay in school, stay healthy, and stay free of stigma.
Where We Focus
On The Ground
How this takes shape day to day
Reusable Pads
Free, durable pads for girls and women in need
Community Outreach
Menstrual hygiene & STI education in Soweto
The Clinic Today
Outpatient care that grew from that first response
Now: A Full Hospital
Emergency, maternity, lab and pharmacy on one site
Our Challenge
"Our challenge is to have enough product for all the needy. Our target is to reach every needy girl and young woman — not only in Soweto slums, but in the whole of Kenya."
See It For Yourself
A look inside the work
Our People
The team behind the work
Team Member Name
Medical Director
Team Member Name
Program Coordinator, Pad Distribution
Team Member Name
Community Outreach Lead
Moments
From the field
The Goal Stands
Help us reach every needy girl and woman
Whether through a financial contribution, a supply of pads, or a clinical partnership — there's a place for you in this work.