By Deeksha Saxena | Intern
Dear Friends,
Greetings from Indian Dreams Foundation!
Indian Dreams Foundation is continuously marching forward to enable the slum girls to fight their period blues and ensure a happy living for themselves. So far, we have conducted multiple workshops in multiple localities in the city, where we tried to educate the slum girls and women about the menstruation-related myths, which have so far, excluding these women and girls from many aspects of social and cultural life.
Up till now, we have come across some shocking revelations made by the girls, which showcases the graveness of the situation. While putting girls and women to restrictions during the periods in their daily lives is a common practice in every household it is indeed heart wrenching to say that menstruating girls and women are restricted from offering prayers and touching holy books. It is believed that menstruating women are unhygienic and unclean and hence the food they prepare gets contaminated. Some girls revealed that their aunts and mother impose some strict dietary restriction on them, during menstruation such as the girls are restricted to consume sour food like curd, tamarind and pickles as it is believed that it could disturb their menstrual flow.
In our journey, so far, we have realized that a major setback leading to improper hygiene management of the girls is the use of an old cloth, which is often reused. Poor protection and inadequate washing facilities also increase the susceptibility to infections.
IDF on coming in terms with the severity of the situation has taken upon its shoulders to address the myths and social taboos associated with menstruation to improve the reproductive health of adolescent girls and women, by following a strategic approach. IDF is continuously working on expanding its boundaries to aware young girls and adult women about the biological facts of menstruation and good hygienic practices.
So in coming months, we are planning to extend our reach to the urban slums of the locality Baluganj of Agra, Uttar Pradesh. Here, a large percentage of slum dwelling girls have been identified by IDF, who have fallen prey to the age-old menstrual myths. We will be organizing regular workshops in our newly targeted locality on a planned basis to sensitize girls regarding puberty, so as to give wings to their dream of living a healthy life.
We are rigorously working to change the mindsets of many girls and women towards positivity of menstruation hygiene management (MHM) & the role of MHM for the well-being of the women. This all could be possible due to your continuous support and we hope that you will support us like that in the future also.
We will continue to keep you updated about our work and events.
Many thanks again for your support!
Follow us on https://www.facebook.com/idf4all
Regards,
Team IDF
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