SANITARY TOWELS FOR GIRLS IN RURAL SCHOOLS

Joy for Children Uganda participated in the hike for a girl child in Eastern Uganda. The event took place on 9^th to 10^th July 2022. This is an annual event that is also meant to promote domestic tourism.

The purpose of this year’s hike was to break stigma around menstruation and ending period poverty among young girls. A number of girls have dropped out of school due to being mocked after staining their uniforms.

Menstruation health also has a huge impact on a girls education as girls often forced to skip classes when they are on their period. Plan international research in Uganda has found out that about half of the adolescent girls do not go to school when they are menstruating –missing out up to 24 days of school a year. This can lead to dropping out of school and this puts the girls to a risk of child marriage and getting pregnant at a young age which comes with heightened health risks. Not receiving education and being forced into early marriage also inevitably usually leads to reduced employment and income generation, a terrible consequence which only serves to hold back women’s life chances.

According to UNICEF, globally more than one in three schools (37%) do not have clean, single sex toilets (37%) . one in five (19%) have no usable toilets at all.

At least 500 million girls and women –that’s one in four of the world’s female population of reproductive age, do not have what they need to manage their period whether sanitary pads or access to a clean toilet.

Menstruation is a topic that people are usually uncomfortable talking about and is typically a topic that is only discussed behind closed doors. This is because cultures all over the world have developed detrimental concepts and beliefs about menstruation.

Because of the taboos surrounding menstruation in many parts of the world, there is a significant lack of health education resources available to people about the menstrual cycle. It is this lack of knowledge that fuels myths which ostracize and humiliate women during their monthly cycles.

The stigma surrounding menstruation both stems from and worsens gender inequality. It comes from a perception of girls as less worthy – both in society and within families – and by exposing them to discrimination and unfair treatment, affects their health and wellbeing.

“I remember my first period I had no information, I didn’t know what to do, in wished someone could talk to me and show me how to put on a pad, I was scared that blood was going to get through my dress at school, says Darren( Not real name). Daren also shared to the hikers she used to struggle to smuggle pads in bags into school washrooms like as if it was a crime to menstruate. This inspired her to take part in the hike to break stigma around menstruation.

Raising Teenagers Uganda organized the 2022 hike for a girl child with a theme of breaking menstrual stigma to combat the issues surrounding menstruation by providing free menstrual health education to young people and community members in Buyende district, as well as enabling access to period products, and sparking conversations around periods to fight the stigma.

The activity was a success that they donated sanitary pads 500 girls in Buyende district. 

The girls were excited and showed their appreciation through the songs, dances and poems they presented to the hikers.