By JYOTI SINGH | Project Head
Hi Everyone,
Greetings from the Indian Dreams Foundation!
It is our pleasure to share with you the updates of the Smiley Days Project that aims to disseminate knowledge and information towards menstrual hygiene management and wellbeing to the targeted adolescent girls and women from urban and rural slums of Agra, India.
During the current COVID situation in India, the IDF team is dedicated to achieving the aim of the Smiley Days Project by reaching the beneficiaries personally through community workers and con calls workshops. We came up with some stories of the beneficiaries during the lockdown and would happy to share a girl’s story named Ishana (name changed) with you that show the impact of the project on the ground.
Ishana is twelve years old and enrolled in a school. She loves to go to school but due to lockdown, her school remains close from March 2020. Though, the lockdown days became an unforgettable day for her as she started menstruation.
Ishana said, “One morning I saw some blood patches on my panty, I was scared and rushed to the mother. I told her about the blood that was on my inner-wear. My mother simply smiled and hugged me tightly. I was surprised by her reaction to my condition. I started to weep and asked what this is? She again smiled and told me that it’s a natural process. Every girl has to face this situation during puberty. She handed me a sanitary napkin and described the proper usage. My mother called to the Smiley team members (Didi) to counsel me properly. Didi provided me proper information about the periods and importance of hygiene during periods to keep me healthy. Previously my mother has attended many workshops of Smileys Days conducted by IDF in our community. I thank the team members who teach important things to the girls like me”.
There are many girls like Ishana who are unaware of their first periods and scared that time their mothers need to talk to them about the biological and natural process of menstruation. Team IDF is keen to educate the mothers also for the importance of menstrual hygiene management for them and their daughters for the healthy wellbeing. Well, mothers play an important role to disseminate information to the girl, so under our project we also target to aware mothers.
Thank you so much for your generous support…
Regards,
Team IDF
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