Support for menstrual health for girls in India

Dear Friends,

Greetings from Indian Dreams Foundation!

It is our pleasure to share our recent activity report of the SMILEY DAYS PROJECT which is dedicated to educate, aware & empower adolescent girls and women from underprivileged communities towards their reproductive health and menstrual hygiene management.

We at IDF celebrated Menstrual Hygiene Day on 28^th of May, 2019 with more than 350 women and girls in the slums of Agra. We were really heartened with the huge turnout. With the help of our diligent team, we created awareness among the women and girls about menstruation and the importance of women education as a part of our Smiley Days project. Our counsellors ware kind enough to bless us with her presence. She enlightened the ladies about the importance of girl child education and menstrual hygiene.

When we encouraged the girls & women to share their views, a young girl Pinky (name changed), about 12 years old, came forward and shared such hard-hitting views on women empowerment that even a 40-year-old cannot.

Pinky said “Our society follow old costumes & tradition where we girls do not allow going outside and families do not give us importance towards our education & health. We girls also have some dreams, we girls also want to help the families, and we girls want to stay happy but the society where we live restricted to do all. I have a request to all the mothers who are listening to me that please respect your daughters and give them the freedom to fly high.”

This is what happens when we empower our daughters with education. Some middle-aged women shared how they wanted to have careers as teachers and doctors but couldn’t owing to lack of resources and that they would ensure that their daughters receive education and achieve their dreams. They would ensure that periods do not hinder their daughters’ future. We at IDF will continue supporting and encouraging such women and children to lead better lives.

The event ended with the distribution of sanitary pads and lots of heartfelt love.

Many thanks again for your support!

We will continue to keep you updated about our work and events.

Follow us on https://www.facebook.com/idf4all

Regards,

Team IDF

Dear Friends,

Greetings from Indian Dreams Foundation!

We are happy to share you with the recent workshop conducted this week under Smiley Days Program.

As Menstrual Hygiene Day is very close and our Smiley Days team is actively engaged with adolescent girls and women from different slums of Agra to Aware, Educate & Empower them towards menstrual hygiene management & reproductive health for their well – being.

On 15^th May, the temperature was about 42 degree, However SMILEY DAYS team were in action and organized an awareness workshop on “Importance of Menstrual Hygiene” for adolescent girls & women in an urban slum of Agra district on the hot sunny day. The girls & women were gathered on the workshop venue with full zeal. The workshop was in interactive in nature, a lot of women were sharing their first Menses experiences during the session.

The shared experiences of the women & girls are as below;

A forty-five years old woman named Laxmi (name changed) said “In early days, I used to live with my parents in a village where my all family members were engaged in the field to do agriculture work and I used to do it also with my parents. I used to play with my friends on the field as well. One day, I got a bloody spot on my salwar (lower) and I didn’t have an idea what was that? I rushed to my friend who was also supporting her parents in the field. She saw my condition and shouted loudly ‘heyyyy you got periods… heyyy you got periods’. And I didn’t understand what she was saying! She had given me a dirty cloth that she found from somewhere on the field and instructed me to use it to soak period blood. Those old days, I was not wearing panty So that I just put that cloth under my lower without any support. But when I stepped forward, the cloth was slipped and made visible for everyone on the field. The day, I was embarrassed so much. I will not forget that tragedy in my life. I am happy that team Smiley Days is here with our girls to educate them on how to deal with their first menses”.

Another girl name Pooja (name changed) shared her story also with the team, “I got my first periods in the age of fourteen that time I was in the school. I got a bloody spot on my uniform. My three other friends surrounded me and they accompanied me to my house so that no one can see the spot on the uniform. My mother gave me sanitary napkins without given me instruction for its usage. I was unaware that there was a sticky substance on the napkins and I used to use it in the wrong way”.

We will continue to keep you updated about our work and events.

Many thanks again for your support!

Regards,

Team IDF