My First Period

Waaaa!! It all poured out one morning while I went to shower before I left for school. Confused and Panic stricken I rushed back to the house, telling my mother I was sick because so much blood is coming out from below. No one in school or at home had prepared me for this day. I had my first monthly period in my second year of high school; of which I shared with my mother and all she said was \" it is normal for a girl to experience when she grows up, take some rugs and saw them on your panties, to prevent it from flowing through your school uniform\".

I respectfully did as she had instructed me sewing the rugs on my underpants. I went took my shower and dressed up for school so self conscious and uncomfortable.Then boom !!came the cramps during the second lesson at school, with fear coupled with pain and shame I didn't even tell anyone including friends what was happening to me.

It got worse and the flow went through my skirt which was dark colored luckily no one noticed. Being a day school, I left for home that same morning during the 10 o'clock break, I stayed home for the rest of the week without going to school. From this day henceforth, I missed out school during my menstrual period l, it was only during exam period that my mum would sell vegetables and buy me a packet of sanitary towels, so that I sit for exams, This continued until I finished my Form Four(High School Education). This really affected my self esteem and interrupted my schooling; my overall performance dropped both in studies and activities because I had to stay home for lacking school fees and when i did have any balances I stayed home for menstrual period to end, sometimes my poor mother I couldn't even afford painkillers which was believed to be taboo to take painkillers to ease the pain; in my community and school they said it will make you barren.

Girls from poor backgrounds in my school went through the same experience because in my third year of high school we started looking for heavier rugs that prevented much leaking.We sew the rugs secretly and reused them often after proper cleaning. We did this in secret after several girls shared their experiences, but at times our fellow girls would lend us the 'pads' as we commonly called them.

Owing to this challenges, after high school I volunteered to join a community based organization which donates both re-usable and disposable sanitary towels to girls while educating them on the importance of personal hygiene and their Sexual Health and Reproductive Rights.