Tsuno is more than a company

We Just LOVE when we are introduced to a company that not only impacts the world in a big way and changes lives, but has a bit of quirk to it! After all this is what IndieLove Magazine looks for. Something unique, a product that has a story. And this is exactly what Tsuno is all about. Here is an article we were sent recently and we think you're gonna love it. Get behind this company and help reach the globe with their mission.

The harsh truth about menstruation across the globe

Women are beautiful and empowering creatures, we are strong and resilient. Yet, there is an underlying truth about the harsh reality of the lives of women in countries such as Sierra Leone and Uganda and what they have to experience - it's a reality that women in Australia cannot even begin to imagine and most don't even know about.

Having your period is an essential part of being a woman and on a monthly basis it is just something we have to endure. It's reality. What we are not aware of, is the heart breaking truth behind our monthlys that some women have to experience.

Lets put this into perspective...

Most Girls/women in Sierra Leone, one of the world’s poorest countries, do not have a hygienic way of dealing with their period. While women in Australia will grab a tampon or a pad and be on their way with their day to day activities, girls in Sierra Leone can miss up to 12 weeks a year of school due to their period (that's even if these girls go to school). Many eventually fall behind at school, struggle in exams and eventually drop out. Something that is so easily managed and accessible here, is actually affecting someone else’s ability to stay in school. For many women and girls, access to sanitary products is simply beyond their reach.

The harsh truth to this that instead, women and girls in these countries will have to do the following to manage their period; wear up to 5 pairs of underwear, use leaves, sponges, bark and old clothes. Shocking right? Imagine if this was you?

The process is extremely unhygienic and poor menstrual hygiene can have damaging health related effects on our bodies. These girls/women are washing their sponges and old clothes in filthy water and due to cultural taboos around menstruation and they are required to hang theminside their home which is humid and the garments will never fully dry.

Another harsh truth to this... The above results in these girls/women wearing damp and disease prone pieces around, experiencing bruising and rashes. Again, imagine if this were you? Would you want help?

This is where the Tsuno story begins.

Founder of Tsuno, Roz Campbell wanted to make a difference. Roz was gobsmacked and heartbroken at not only the horrifying stories of what these women are enduring but the negative effects many conventional sanitary products were having on the environment.

Roz sourced a product from a manufacturer working with sustainable fibres. They make bamboo and corn fibre disposable sanitary pads. Bamboo is perfect for this application, it grows quickly, it’s naturally pest resistant, meaning no chemicals or pesticides are needed to grow it. The structure of the fibre is quite hollow, so it has lots of room for absorbing moisture, which is perfect for pads, helping to draw moisture away from your body.

Tsuno aims to educate and help change the world, it is so important that we do not bury our heads in the sand and learn to appreciate how lucky we actually have it.

Tsuno donates 50% of net profits from the sale of their pads to charities helping to empower women in the developing world. Tsuno is currently working in partnership with the non profit One Girl, who give girls access to education in Sierra Leone and Uganda, and run an amazing menstrual hygiene program called Launch Pad. Tsuno is changing the game and it is so important that women are becoming more and more educated on the topic and understanding how lucky we really are.

So next time you hit the supermarket to stock up on sanitary requirements, stop and think about these poor girls/woman across the globe who don't have access to these products. Think about how you can make a difference. Think ethical. Ethical businesses like Tsuno exist so you can make more conscious buying decisions. They do the work for you, all you have to do is purchase from them!

www.tsuno.com.au

Meet Roz the face of Tsuno, we think you're going to fall in love with her!

This is me! I am Roz, and I am running Tsuno. I've written the story below. I hope you find it interesting and it helps you understand why Tsuno exists. Thanks for stopping by!

I'm sure not many people can say they have a triple garage full of sanitary pads, not even those who like to shop at Costco or be prepared for a rainy day...or a heavy flow. I've pushed the bulk purchase to a whole new level. Why, you may ask? Well... Please read on. About four years ago I had an idea. The idea came flying at me from many angles. I was studying industrial design at uni, and had just been to Europe to exhibit a chair I'd designed. When I was in Europe I got my period. It was here I was made aware for the first time of this incredible thing called 'the menstrual cup'. For those of you who are like- huh? ...like I was.. It's a silicon cup that you insert into your vagina to collect your menstrual blood, you can leave it in for up to 12 hours, there's very little chance of toxic shock syndrome, you empty it, wash it, put it back in and they can last for up to ten years. How's that! what!? wow!? Of course I bought one and was so amazed that something like this wasn't very well known in Australia, I wanted to tell every woman I knew about it. I did a little research and learnt that they had actually been invented around the 1930's, about the same time as the first tampon came to be. I started doing more and more research into the feminine hygiene market. I was trying to figure out why not much has changed in so long when it comes to the products we have available. I used my cup. Although it sounded amazing, for me, it actually didn't work as well as I had hoped. I was still using pads and tampons. I thought I could design something better, or even, something completely different. In my research I realised how women are all different. They have such different needs. Personal preference, religion and health amongst a host of other influences come into it. There should be more options for us. I read more, and I was shocked to learn about the chemicals that are used in some of the processes to manufacture many pads and tampons on the market. How much plastic is used that after a just a few hours use, ends up in landfill for hundreds if not thousands of years. Pesticides are sprayed all over the cotton to help it grow without insects making a dinner of it. Chlorine used to bleach them. Around the same time I heard about an Australian based charity providing education scholarships to girls in Sierra Leone, one of the worlds poorest countries, called One Girl. After sending their first bunch of girls to school they realised they weren't going all the time, they were missing up to a week of school every month because of THEIR PERIODS. They would fall behind at school, struggle in exams and eventually drop out. I was gobsmacked. I had honestly never given it any thought what people do when they can't afford or don't have access to sanitary products. I definitely didn't think something so easy for me to manage could affect someone else's ability to stay in school. In 2013 I decided to take part in One Girl's yearly charity fundraising challenge, and set myself the challenge of having my period using the methods I'd heard women resort to when they don't have access to affordable sanitary products. I used rags, newspaper, kitchen sponges and leaves. I was also going to use bark, yes bark from a tree, but when I went to the tree to pull some off I actually couldn't bring myself to do it. I really felt something strong, for a woman to be in the position that bark is her best option, that definitely is not a good position. So, coming full circle I felt compelled to try and do something to help. Life feels better for me when I help, and this is how I've decided to do so. I sourced a product from a manufacturer working with sustainable fibres. They make bamboo and corn fibre disposable sanitary pads. Bamboo is an amazing material. It grows so quickly, the harvesting process doesn't erode the soil- it's cut like a grass, and keeps growing, rather than being ripped out by the roots like most plants. It's naturally pest resistant, meaning no chemicals or pesticides are needed to grow it. The structure of the fibre is quite hollow, so it has lots of room for absorbing moisture, which is perfect for pads, drawing the moisture away from your body. The pads have one layer of polyethylene plastic, to ensure they are leak proof- there would be no point if they leaked right? But my manufacturers and I are working together on making a version that works just as well and uses a biodegradable plastic. That's exciting. (The bigger I get the more chance I have of making that happen.) Then they are individually wrapped in a biodegradable plastic sleeve to keep them clean, a recyclable cardboard box, again, reducing the plastic that will sit in landfill forever. They are also free from chlorine and dioxin bleach. I needed just over $40 000 to buy my first order from the manufacturers. That's where the garage full of pads comes into it. I didn't have $40 000. No bank would take me seriously when I told them what I wanted the money for, so I decided to try and crowd fund the idea. In May 2014 about 1200 women believed in my idea and invested about $30 each to pre-order some of these pads until I had reached the amount I needed to buy my first shipping container. In October 2014 they arrived, and now here I am...with lots of pads. In February 2016 I placed my second order (woohoo the concept is working!) and now have even more pads than before. These bamboo pads I sell go under the name Tsuno. If you are wondering how to say that, it's kind of like tsunami. But it didn't actually have anything to do with a giant 'crimson wave', that was a funny connection I realised afterwards. Yoko Tsuno was a cartoon character who was the epitome of a competent woman. She was an engineer, a pilot, a scuba diver, amongst many other great things. Nothing really held her back, and definitely not her period. I liked the name. It's good. Tsuno is good. Why is Tsuno good? I donate 50% of net profits from the sale of these pads to charities helping to empower women in the developing world. Right now I have an agreement with One Girl, who give education scholarships to girls in Sierra Leone and Uganda, and run an amazing menstrual hygiene program called Launch Pad. A little while after starting Tsuno I heard about Share the Dignity, Essentials for Women SA and the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre. Before then I had not given much thought to what it must be like to be an asylum seeker arriving here with nothing, a homeless woman in Australia, or fleeing from domestic violence. In the last year, more than 10000 boxes of pads have been donated to these organisations through the Tsuno website, from the generous public and matched donations from Tsuno.

Thank you so much for taking an interest in this business I now spend most of my waking hours working on, it's a work in progress and it's fun and I hope you like it.

Roz x

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