Our History

Hanaru began with one woman's dream of making a positive impact on the lives of girls in India. Kayoko has made the dream a reality with hard work, determination, and tenacity; and her efforts have already positively touched the lives of thousands of people.

Born and raised in Japan she obtained a BA in Textile Art from the Women's College of Art in Tokyo and studied Textile Design at the Visva Bharati University in Santiniketan, India. You can read more about Kayoko on our Founder's page

In India she witnessed the women and girls dealing with discrimination from the caste system, gender inequality, and the taboos, shame, and humiliation around menstruation that had the greatest impact on her. There was a lack of acceptance and support for menstruating females, and she found herself unable to go into kitchens or to temples during her periods.

It became obvious to Kayoko that the most important factor that allowed these girls the hope of a better life was education. Years later when she read that 23% of girls drop out of school when they have their first period[1] she knew she wanted to create a way to help alleviate the issue caused solely by menstruation. Education has been identified by the United Nations as a fundamental right [2].

Many women and girls don't have access to any period protection, such as sanitary napkins, tampons and liners and have to use rags, newspapers, or leaves, all of which are unhygienic and can cause infections and genital rashes. It is common in the West for women to use the widely available disposable products. A simplistic solution could be to provide these to the girls in India but it is not appropriate as they don't have access to facilities to use them hygienically, and the used products and packaging add to India's issues with waste management.

In 2014 Kayoko started on what became thousands of hours of research, design and development to find the most suitable and durable materials. This involved testing different fabrics to find the most suitable, durable ones to use in an Indian environment. She made over 500 napkins herself, some of which she distributed to girls in India. She started the ongoing training of local women in different areas to make the napkins, supplying all the equipment and material they needed to make them. The women made over 5,000 napkins from Kayoko's initial fabric purchases Distribution of the napkins was combined with menstrual education and how the napkins will help the environment.

In 2019, in order to raise funds to expand the production and distribution of Hanaru's reusable sanitary napkins the charity was founded. Today the charity enjoys enthusiastic supporters worldwide but especially from Australia, Japan and India. In 2020, as the Charity grew, Ambassadors - local students and graduates who recognised and supported the needs of the Charity continued distributing these napkins and subsequently ones made from fabric Hanaru purchased.

Since Hanaru was established in 2019, we have made over 20,000 napkins and supported over 3,300 girls, with packs of six napkins. This was made possible by the generous support of our donors and funds raised at organized events.

The work of napkins distribution and providing menstrual education to girls is done by our Ambassadors - university students and graduates who are passionate about improving young girls' lives. The Ambassador Program proved very effective and we look forward to expanding this in the future.