Wantaim PNG

We could have just handed out sanitary products. 🧵

A lot of organisations do. And there's a place for that. But we asked a different question: What if the women in these communities could make them?

So that's what Hamamas Meri does.

Module 1: Feminine hygiene awareness — education that travels by word of mouth

Module 2: Reusable pad kit sewing — women trained as makers and teachers

Module 3: Advocacy & leadership — women stepping up in their communities.

When a woman learns to sew a kit, she doesn't just solve her own problem. She solves it for her daughter. Her neighbour. Her whole community.

That's the model. Skills, not charity.

Missing one day of school doesn't sound like much. 📚

But here's how the maths works in real life:
🔴 5 days missed per month = 60 days per year 🔴 60 days per year = falling behind peers 🔴 Falling behind = disengagement 🔴 Disengagement = dropout 🔴 Dropout = fewer options, earlier marriage, earlier motherhood.

And the cycle begins again.

This is why Hamamas Meri exists — not just to provide period products, but to help girls stay in school, in the room, in the conversation.

Because when a girl stays in school, everything changes. For her. For her family. For her community.

🌊🌊 The ripple is real.🌊🌊


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Here's something most women in Australia never have to think about. Getting your period.

In many remote communities across Papua New Guinea, there are no sanitary products, no menstrual health education, and no support systems for girls when their period arrives. So they stay home from school.

One day becomes two. Two becomes a week. A week becomes a pattern. And before long, school just… stops.

This is period poverty — and it's not a small problem. It's a generational one.

Stay tuned, we'll show you what we're doing about it. 👇

You've probably never heard of us. 👋



We're Wantaim PNG — an Australian registered NFP working alongside women and girls in Papua New Guinea to create lasting, community-led change.



Since 2017, our Hamamas Meri (Happy Women and Girls) program has been quietly doing big things in some of PNG’s most remote communities


This EOFY, we're pulling back the curtain. Follow along this week — we think you'll be glad you did. 🌿



🔗 Link in bio to learn more.

🩷 Period poverty ends where community begins.

This week marks UN Menstrual Health Day 2026. The theme - Together for a Period-Friendly World - is clear: everyone, not just those with the means to access safe, hygienic products.

At Wantaim PNG, we believe menstrual health should never depend on privilege. That's why our Hamamas Meri ("Happy Women") programme brings rural women together to sew reusable feminine hygiene kits for young girls in their own communities.

Every kit sewn is a declaration that every girl deserves better. Because the 36,000 women and girls of Manus Province have waited long enough.

💛 In the week marking Menstrual Hygiene, we celebrate the Manus women who are not waiting for change, but sewing it 💛

🌏 wantaimpng.org

Not in air conditioned hotels with breakout rooms and afternoon tea. Our meetings happen under a councillor's house, in a classroom, at the marketplace — if there is one — and most commonly of all, under the shade of a tree, everyone seated on the sand because there are no tables or chairs.

We meet communities where they live. 🌺

Remote. Rural. Real.

These are communities with little. And yet, when they want to say thank you, they give everything.

Woven baskets made by hand. Shell necklaces. Fresh food straight from the garden. A cus-cus. Buildings decorated in our honour.

These are big gestures given generously. Joyfully. With full hearts.

That kind of welcome stays with you.

We receive these gifts with deep respect and deep gratitude. They inspire us to keep showing up, under every tree, in every community, across Manus Province.

Wantaim. Together. 🌺

📍 Manus Province, Papua New Guinea 🌐 wantaimpng.org

Manus Island. Two degrees from the equator.

At 5.30pm, darkness falls. Hard. Fast. Complete. No power. No light. No studying. You probably switched on a light today without thinking.

In Manus, when the sun goes down, so does the future for thousands of students. Homework undone. Knowledge ungained. Potential quietly extinguished.

Since 2024, Wantaim PNG and SolarBuddy.org have been pushing back.

The goal is simple — and enormous: a solar light for every primary and secondary student in Manus. Every single one.

Two years on, the impact speaks for itself. One small light. An enormous trajectory.

A huge thank you to our enabling partners — Rotary Club of Turramurra Rotary Club of Manly Rotary Club of Warringah Rotary Club of Balgowlah — whose generous backing is making this ambitious goal a reality.

Help us light up Manus. 👉 wantaimpng.org

Wantaim PNG. Since 2007.