TEENAGE girls at Zola Secondary High School in Khayelitsha were given 3 000 packs of sanitary towels as part of Independent Media's #MillionComforts campaign.

  The South Africa Soong Ching Ling Foundation donated about R28 000 worth of sanitary towels to the school yesterday.

  Foundation chairperson Qing Chen said the call from Independence Media, Dis-Chem and the Dis-Chem Foundation, who have partnered in the campaign, was heard after reading that some girls could not attend school because they were menstruating and could not afford sanitary towels.

  School governing body secretary Noxolo Oliphant said: "We have pupils who come from impoverished families, so they need support. Sometimes they don't have money to buy sanitary towels."

  She said the donation would last the more than 500 schoolgirls for up to a year.

 "Sometimes our girls are absent from school; they don't attend classes because they don't have enough money to buy pads. So, this donation is adding towards their education. It's going to make a difference, and the level of absenteeism is going to drop."

   Acting deputy principal Mcebisi Nyambeka said the school was now able to use money from its budget previously allocated to the provision of sanitary towels for other areas needing funding.

   Consul-general of the People's Republic of China in Cape Town, Kang Yong, said: "We know that some pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds could not afford to buy sanitary towels.

 "The foundation decided to join this project and extend their help to the local society and young women.

 "Young people represent the future of South Africa. Once they can concentrate all their energy and put their concentration on the learning, they can change their own fate, and at the same time make South Africa better," Kang said.

   Independent Media executive chairman Dr Iqbal Surve said: "Independent and Sekunjalo are very happy and thankful for your help, and we look forward to working on many more projects together. If we can take the model that the Chinese have used and apply it to Africa, then we have a great future."