"Everything I do is looking back at what would've helped me at the time. What would have been so helpful for me, in that situation? That's how the charity got started."

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YESSENIA SANDOVAI takes her experience with debilitating chronic illness and uses it to give others suffering from endometriosis the support they need. Founder and manager of Endo Warriors Aotearoa, Yessenia works to provide care packages for people recovering from endometriosis surgery. She also addresses period poverty by providing free period products to schools, workplaces, and food banks.

Yessenia has always been involved in volunteer work. Her father, a political refugee from Chile, has always encouraged her to help those in need. Because of what he went through, Yessenia’s Dad held the belief that ‘if you have something you can do to help someone else, then that’s what you should do’, a message Yessenia continues to exemplify.

Endo Warriors Aotearoa operates across Wellington and the Hutt. The charity runs from Yessenia’s garage, walls lined with packages upon packages of reusable period underwear, pads and tampons, and many a cardboard box. Yessenia navigates a space of organized chaos to provide the support that she wishes she’d had.

Yessenia was diagnosed with endometriosis at twenty, and she said that "even then there were no real answers. They were like 'yes, you have endometriosis, you’ll probably never have children, we’ve done a surgery” and that’s it. It was really like a rollercoaster from there with the illness and other things that happened and multiple surgeries."

No one took the time to explain what endometriosis was or how she could manage life with it. In the twenty years she spent dealing with illness on her own, no one from the hospital or ACC offered any help and there was never a group to support people like her. Something had to be done, so Yessenia began posting on social media, talking to other volunteer groups, and putting together care packages.

"Everything I do is looking back at what would have helped me at the time. What would have been so helpful for me, in that situation? That’s how the charity got started."

But running a charity is not always easy. For a long time Yessenia was doing everything alone, and while she now has a team supporting her, it still requires a lot of admin on her part. "It can be hard starting and running a group, struggling to fund free care packages and period products," she said. Yessenia’s advice for people looking to volunteer is Don’t give up, remember what you’re doing it for. I think anyone volunteering for anything is always a massive help. Any volunteer we get, I’m always grateful for.

There can be a real satisfaction in doing something to help others going through what you’ve been through.