By Jyoti Singh | Project Head
Dear Friends,
Wish you all a Happy Christmas and New Year 2019!
IDF is elated to come up with the story of a remarkable change in the life of an adolescent girl named Sangeeta, who is one of our beneficiaries.
Sangeeta is 14 years old. She comes from a small village near Nagpur called Malkhed Budruk. Her village follows a very strict and an illogical 'reet' (custom) when a girl menstruates.
The menstruating girl is forced to live outside her own house in an isolated area. All her utensils are kept differentiated from the rest of the household and nobody is allowed to come in contact with her. She has to cook her own separate meal and is debarred from entering the house until her period gets over. In short, the girl is treated nothing short of an untouchable.
Sangeeta’s mother Rekha has done her schooling till class X but still used to follow the custom due to pressure from the older women of her house. She used to make her daughters also follow the same, even after shifting to Agra. Sangeeta, after studying in a partner school of IDF gained a lot of perspective about menstruation. She regular attends awareness workshops on menstrual health management. She is now more confident in life and has even encouraged her mother to break free from the shackles of old, irrelevant customs.
Her mother feels that Sangeeta is the driving force behind the change in her family. Now they have started their own 'reet', wherein they have started using pads instead of old cloth pieces. Sangeeta even helped her mother on how to use a sanitary napkin. Sangeeta and her sisters no longer have to stay outside their own homes during their periods or follow other humiliating practices which they were forced to previously.
Project SMILEY DAYS helps to change the old age mindsets of the slum dwellers & girls and creating stories of change. So far, we have touched more than 3000 girls & women through this project. It is our pleasure to share the stories of change from the ground.
Thanks,
Team IDF
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