Support for menstrual health for girls in India

Dear Friends,

Greetings from Indian Dreams Foundation!

(Menstrual hygiene management helping keep the girl in school)

On 16th May 2023, an awareness workshop on menstrual hygiene management was organized for the school girls from grade 7th onwards. The interactive workshop was conducted at Lal Bahadur Shastri Inter College, Agra. The session started with the introduction of the team and participants to normalize the topic by engaging all the girls with clap together activity. The team conducted the first workshop in this school on menstrual hygiene management and covered the following topics – Puberty, Physical changes during Puberty age duration of the healthy periods and what hygiene practices should we follow to stay healthy during menstruation. Myths & taboos associated with menstruation etc.

More than 100 school girls participated in the workshop with enthusiasm. Most of the girls looked shy and uncomfort at the beginning of the session but at the end of the session, they were happy to get important knowledge about their own bodies for their healthy future. 

The Smiley Days team also conducted an interactive activity with the girls by giving them a paper and pen and telling them to write any word that comes to mind when they think about periods. Many girls wrote shame, problem, bad days, fear, disease and many more words the girls wrote on the paper. After reviewing all the answers, our team started the discussion about periods and realized periods are not a matter of shame even if it is a matter of pride. We should be proud of ourselves for having regular periods. Menstruation is a natural process and a sign of good health.

At the end of the workshop, all the participants received sanitary napkins and hygiene kits.

Smiley Days team regularly conducts educational sessions on periods in schools and communities and tries to make this topic more common.

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

Many thanks again for your support!



Regards,
IDF Team

Dear friends,

Greetings from Indian Dreams Foundation (IDF)!

Menstrual hygiene is essential to girls' and women’s health and well-being. Unfortunately, millions of girls and women worldwide lack access to proper menstrual hygiene facilities and products. Our project SMILEY DAYS aims to promote menstrual hygiene knowledge & information through different sets of creative activities and engage more stakeholders with the project.

The May month is dedicated to menstrual hygiene month as World Menstrual Hygiene Day is a global event observed annually on May 28th to raise awareness about the importance of menstrual hygiene and break the silence and stigma surrounding menstruation. Along with this, IDF has planned to organize a series of workshops or awareness sessions this month on menstrual hygiene to disseminate information and knowledge to the large masses.

Under this series, IDF organized an awareness workshop on menstrual hygiene management, below are the details of the workshop;

Date of the workshop = 6^th May 2023

Venue = Ambedkar Park, Baluganj Community, Agra UP

No. of beneficiaries = 350 women and girls

The age group of the beneficiaries = 12 years onwards

Discussed topics = (A) No Shame to talk about Periods. (B) Hygiene practice during Periods.

                              (C) Usage of Sanitary Napkins

All the participants looked excited and eager during the workshop because this topic was new to them. They never attended any workshop or education session on this stigma and shame surrounding the topic.

Thanks to all for your support and motivation in our Smiley Days journey.

Thanks & Regards,

Team IDF