By Deeksha Saxena | Intern
Dear friends,
A huge thanks to all the stakeholders and well-wishers for garnering support to our project and for the continuous motivation we are receiving which is in turn helping us in expanding our vision and strengthening our mission.
Moving a step forward towards our goal of equipping each and every girl with proper menstrual hygiene management, we conducted three awareness workshops in the month of November.
Our first workshop was held in Kamla Arun Inter College, Devri Road, Agra District, India where approximately 225 adolescent girls participated. This was one of our concurrent sessions with the girls. As these girls were previously made aware of the basic details of menstruation, we tried to further educate the girls on proper hygiene management to be followed during menstruation. We told the girls that it is very important to take bath and maintain a proper sanitation during their monthly menstrual cycle. The girls were informed about the importance of washing hands before and after changing the sanitary napkin, that the napkins should be changed after every 4-5 hours to avoid any infection and leakage. Also, we educated the girls about the importance of washing their genitals regularly with clean water. We made the girls aware of the stupid age-old myths regarding menstruation and that menstruation is not a matter of shame, but a matter of pride as it is a reflection of a healthy growth.
Our second workshop was organized at Kotli Bagichi, Devri Road, Agra District, India. Here, 110 girls and women actively participated. These women and girls were among our old beneficiaries. So, this time we extended our project to deliver information on a menstrual hygiene product called ‘menstrual cup' to young girls and married women of the urban slum. It was not surprising for us to know that none of the girls has heard of the product before. So, we gave a complete demonstration of the product ranging from its usefulness, handling techniques and about its convenient usage. We were joyous to see all the women and girls taking great interest in the product.
A twenty four yearls old woman named 'Lalita' told that the problems like itching and burning sensation in the vaginal area experienced by her have heavily reduced after using sanitary napkins and maintaining proper sanitation which she was made aware of in the previous sessions of ‘Smiley Days’. She said Smiley kits proved to be a life-changing solution to her menstrual troubles.
All the participating women vowed to follow good menstrual hygiene and also to teach their daughters proper menstrual management so that they do not have the little information which their mothers had before.
We conducted our third workshop in Kasturi Devi Jain Girls High School, Dhuliyaganj, Agra District, India. It was basically an interactive session between us and 30 school girls aged around 10-15 years. Among all the girls present only two were menstruating. Rest of them were completely unaware of what menstruation is all about. Here, we provided the girls with basic knowledge regarding menstruation through various diagrammatic representations. The two girls told us that they were skipping schools during periods since they felt ashamed of it. Their teachers were completely unaware of the mental state of these girls.
A 14 years old girl named 'Suman' described that she is refrained from doing basic household chores like cooking, washing linen and utensils, as well as from worshipping during her periods. We encouraged the teenaged girls not to be shy and hide their menstrual woes, but to discuss it openly with their teachers and mothers. Team IDF, tutored these girls to not take their periods as a burden and put a stop to their daily routine, but manage it with a proper sanitation and follow their day to day activities in a usual manner.
In the next step of the program, we will be distributing Smiley Cards to our new beneficiaries which will help the girls in keeping a track record of their menstrual hygiene.
Team IDF, need your full support to achieve its goal. So, kindly keep on showering us with your continuous support.
Thank you.
Regards,
Team IDF.
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