About

 

 

Yup, that’s us! Uh-huh right there…. babe’n it!!!

 

 

This is the part of our page where we’re meant to professionally (and within the confines of political correctness) divulge all the details of Go with the flows creation and who we are as founders. But we do things a little left field here and believe that it’s important to stick to your guns. So if you’re interested, read on, or not. It’s your call.

Who are we? We’re a couple of down-to-earth chicks who go by the names Laura and Natasha, Tash for cool kids (that’s Tar-sh not Taa-sh for those of you with an awkward aussie twang) and we are the driving force behind Go with the flow. We’re from a lil’ol place suitably called “The coolest little capital” or Wellington New Zealand for those less adventurous. We’re not strangers to each-other and in fact have a bit of background together as we grew up on the same quaint street, knew the same folk, and, both owned chatter-rings. Then, without knowing it, we each stumbled across the same article that tore at our heart strings. Like most other females of our age bracket, we turned to social media to share the impact that the three by three-inch article had had on us. And Boom! We were off!

We rustled up a vague outline of how we would like to help other folk who identify as women & teens in our community who are struggling with access to clean, healthy and hygienic, sanitary products or solutions.

Armed with a glass of red, a charged laptop and a kid that went to bed on time, our email address was born (gowiththeflowcharity@gmail.com) swiftly followed by a Facebook Page. It seemed progress was imminent. Our new-born legs were a little shaky as our hesitant first steps were taken. It wasn’t long before we realised that the saying “grab life by the balls” was fairly accurate and our approach just hadn’t been forthcoming enough. So, we jumped in, boots and all, and threw caution to the wind. Granted, a couple of half-cocked Hutt-Valley girls asking for random donations of tampons was slow to catch on, but boy did she ever…

And just like that, we had welcomed Go with the flow into the world.

To speed the story up a touch, if you’re blessed with the beloved cycle, then you’d be all too familiar with ‘that time of the month, when the river runs red’ and the absolute pain-in-the-arse (well, not the actual arse, oh you get it!) time that it can be. There’s the stomach cramps, and back pain, the break-outs, the emotional roller coaster known as PMS, or the awkward moments where you’re ‘caught out’. You know the one…. you jam some half-arsed rough as guts toilet paper solution from the local public loo, in to your undies until you can get to your nearest stockist of tampons. Or you could, of course, opt for having your menstrual blood soak through the crotch of your pants while you’re meant to be enjoying a vino with the girls, or that long-awaited date with the Spunky mechanic down the road.

Wait….Did that hit home, strike a chord or ring true at all?

Rewind to the part where we mentioned toilet paper, bloody undies, public loo…  In that example it is the less evil and more socially acceptable option to wrap bundles of  cheap toilet paper around your undies.

 But what if that was your ACTUAL reality, month in and month out?

If you’re forced to pick between feeding your kiddies breakfast this week, and buying a $8.99 pack of tampons. If life was difficult enough, that you had to sacrifice the purchase of feminine products for your puberty fueled 15-year-old teenage daughter so she could have that warm winter coat she needs. Of course, in choosing that it means she misses a week of schooling every month because she doesn’t have access to any hygiene products.

 It sounds extreme, right?

 Well it is. It’s out-right f***** ridiculous.

It’s also the reality for many people in our country. For us GWTF founders, the idea of not being able to leave the house for a week due to the absence of a sticky absorbent strip a.k.a panty liner, seemed, and still seems, bloody absurd. We knew then, as we do now, that something needs to change. It should be a basic human right to have access to sanitary products and not a luxury for societies high-flyers.

So, what began as a half-arsed idea and the odd packet of tampons or a stray pad, soon became cartons and shipments of products from any number of donors, from all corners of our country. We got so much in fact that we had a room reserved at a local hotel to allow us to gather and assemble the supplies into our care packages, and of-course, like a proud parent, we took photos of the awesome work our community had done. Once complete, these packages were, and continue to be, sent to; The women’s refuge, Homeless folk right there on the street, Night shelters and soup kitchens, Low-socioeconomic community houses, schools and education centres and more recently, Foster Hope New Zealand.

We’ve been kindly rewarded with stories of heartfelt thanks at the difference it’s made to the lives of our locals, and to be honest, it feels good to help. To know that you’re part of a solution and not the problem, that you’re shining light on a topic that is so easily swept under the carpet and forgotten about – it’s rewarding stuff!

But we’re realistic, we’ve got to be.

 We understand that whilst we’re reaching our target market, and offering an interim, temporary solution, we need to do and make more substantial changes to stop this issue being carried forward into future generations.

 We’re talking Government Funding and legislation changes. We want every person that has to endure a period, that is of menstruating age to have free access to clean, sterile, hygienic sanitary solutions – yup, we want to pull out the big guns. We figure, if there is free access to condoms for protection against sexual health related illnesses, for an elective, un-obligatory action (sexual intercourse), that supplies for your period, a non-optional issue, is a given right.

Sadly though, this debacle isn’t going to be fixed overnight, and it will take a huge, community minded effort for it to even be considered as a viable option. Truth be told, and lets’ face it, the government isn’t exactly known for moving swiftly on matters of this nature.

 So, where to next? We wait, but not silently, or without action.  We inform and share with others the impact of this problem. Be it mentioning the price of liners at your local corner store to your neighbour, liking our Facebook page and throwing a comment down so others know you’re backing us, or distributing flyers. The message needs to be spread and awareness raised.

 We collect; anything that is sealed and not nailed down, even if it’s just a stray tampon (*All items must have packaging intact or be individually wrapped in order to meet health regulations). We throw a $3.00 pack of cheap products in our shopping trolley instead of our daily mocha-latte, or we ask colleagues, teachers, mates, ANYONE whose ear you’ve not already chewed off, for any rogue items they have.

Then we distribute. We see the relief on a homeless lady’s face as she knows this month it’s not a sock, or newspaper strips.  We watch as the attendance roll at the local college improves and with it grades and future opportunities. Or even if it’s that selfish satisfaction we can get in our guts when we’ve helped someone who needed it, for no other reason than we can.

And once we’ve done all that. We don’t sit down for a cuppa, or take a quick nap. We get the hell up and we repeat the cycle all over again, continually, because it’s not going to stop nor change overnight, but, if we stamp our feet hard enough, and yell loud enough, for long enough, we might, just might, see the change we are so desperately seeking.