Shattering Menstrual Shame in Nepal

In the district of Kalikot, Nepal where the Shattering the Shame program is operating, the local team of All Stars continue to work tirelessly toward a future where all women and girls have access to menstrual education, DfG products, and ways to redefine traditional practices that support safety and dignity for all.

So far in 2019, the team has distributed more than 7,550 Kits, educating 18 additional local women through Training of Trainer (ToT) workshops involving an intensive 7-day training on empowerment, leadership, personal hygiene, and menstrual health management. These new leaders have passed on the training to local communities, conducting 55 community Ambassador of Women’s Health education sessions, as well as several community festivals to help reduce shame and stigma around menstruation. This brought the total for the past two years to 13,250 women and girls, and counting! In addition, they have held high-level meetings with the government in Nepal four times to ensure that this issue stays front and center. 

The miraculous change in self-esteem that occurs during these week-long trainings is undeniable. The participants include women who were not given the opportunity to pursue school beyond grade school or, in some cases, to pursue school at all. They include women who have never been given the opportunity to talk about such issues in a public sphere, who have never had a ‘safe space’ to discuss their strengths as women and to work through the hardships of being a woman in Nepal. One of the most rewarding facets of the work this year was witnessing shy, fear-ridden participants finish the ToT with a newfound ability to champion being a woman; this, in what has historically been an extraordinarily difficult place to be a woman. 

In this mountainous and beautiful area, where most communities are not reachable by road, where proper healthcare is nearly impossible to come by, and where basic education, let alone healthcare education, is virtually nonexistent, these efforts have been a tremendous feat. Thank YOU for making this possible!