A big number of girls and women live in period poverty, especially those in the rural areas. As a child born and raised in the village, I saw and experienced this first hand. My twin sister and I often had questions around menstruation mostly because of what we saw at school. Some girls would miss classes and we could later learn that it was due to fear of stigma and lack of menstrual hygiene products. I remember when I was in primary six, there was a girl whose period came unannounced and the whole class noticed the leak on her skirt, she later dropped out of school because of shame and the fact that everyone had learnt about the incident. After observing that and various related cases, I understood that so many girls living and studying in rural areas find it hard to deal with their menses. Over 1000 students recieved sanitary pads from the campaign. In villages, most parents are concerned with what their families are going to eat and hence proper menstrual products like pads come off as a luxury. It’s hard for a parent who is struggling to get food for her family to afford monthly costs of menstruating pads. Period poverty can be described as loss or inadequate access to sanitary hygiene materials-and simply not talking about menstruation at home or anywhere, which might unfortunately result into having false information about this ever-growing issue. Stigma Society chose to stigmatise menstruation period; thus girls don’t feel safe during that time of the month based on how they are perceived. Some see them as dirty and for that, when it comes to school, there are those who decide not to attend class until the end of their menstruation. There are even those who drop out of school completely due to stigma, which is so sad. That is why men should also learn more about menstruation to be understanding and supportive in fighting against this. Many schools have the ‘Girls’ Room’ which is meant to cater for girls during menstruation, but you can hardly find period products there. More needs to be done. In fact, not only should schools but offices, markets, malls, hotels and restaurants, recreation places like stadiums and other places of social gathering have a specific room for female emergency use- a room that contains menstrual hygiene products like sanitary pads, tampons and panty liners along with some underwear for emergency use. Based on the aforementioned reasons, I initiated the ‘Fight Against Period Poverty Campaign’ to play a role in ending period poverty. When a girl or woman in the rural area can’t afford to buy menstrual hygiene products, like sanitary Pads, she is prone to resort to other means like using clothes that can be unhygienic. Those clothes can hardly dry after washing them since they are always placed in hiding. This may result into some illness like vaginal infections and others. Some other girls tend to go out of their way to find these products and end up getting unwanted and teenage pregnancies from men who promise them the products. I am so thankful to everyone who supported my campaign. However challenging it was, the hard work didn’t go in vain. The cause was so successful; 1,275 students from 5 schools (primary, secondary/ 9&12-Year Basic Education and TVET), 4 schools in Gisagara District; GS Ndora, GS Gisagara, GS St. Joseph Dahwe, and GS Cyamukuza, plus the one school, Maraba TVET in Huye District. In total, all the five schools received 3,825 TAMU Sanitary Pads, where each student got 3 packets of pads to cover three months of the entire 1st trimester. Not forgetting the 100 reusable sanitary pads from African Talents Initiative Co.Ltd/Love Centre-these have a six-month guarantee. In addition to all that, every school received 100 TAMU sanitary pads as a donation to be used in the ‘Girl’s Room.’ Men should be involved Brian Shema an emcee and the campaign’s co-organiser said there is nothing as exciting as planning such a campaign and it turns out to be successful. “We achieved our goals, giving gifts to our sisters. We thank all who supported us in every way to make our work a success. I would like to take the opportunity to remind my fellow young men that this also applies to us; we should be involved as well, we ought not to run away from our sisters’ reproductive health at all. Instead, we should be close to them because that is the basis of the existence of all human beings. Girls should not be ashamed to go through menstruation because it is normal and we are as close as your brothers,” Shema said. Jean Pierre Cyambari, Executive Secretary of Ndora Sector, Gisagara district one of the places that got the donation expressed his gratitude for the campaign’s organisers. “Learning that some of them are the native of this district is such a plus. It was so nice, and thanks for the very helpful training session about health and reproduction as well as the pads donation to the young sisters.” The schools’ principals and students, who received menstrual hygiene products, expressed their deepest gratitude to the organisers too. One of the students mentioned that she often used to miss classes because of lack of period products, and that since she normally used old clothes; she couldn’t go to school for fear of leaking and getting dirty. “But I have learnt that I should not be ashamed of my life. I am so happy that I will never miss a single class again this whole semester for I have pads now.” During the campaign, parents were encouraged to talk to their children about reproductive health. Children too were encouraged to approach their parents and listen to their advice including maintaining hygiene and avoiding any ill engagements that would result into teenage pregnancies. Menstruation is not a topic to shy away from. It is normal and part of our daily lives. I call upon everyone with a helping heart to keep in mind children from poor households and disadvantaged families, and help them access menstrual products as we ensure the eradication of period poverty. View this post on Instagram A post shared by 🇰💖🇯 (@kajette_)
