My first period

Naka is a farm land in Bali subdivision with a lot of vegetables and other food stuff. It was a routine in our household to go there for fresh vegetables daily and we did that in turns.

It was my turn to harvest vegetables for that evening. I begged my cousin to accompany me to the farm. She gladly did since at that age of 12, young girls had so many games to play. We stopped wherever we got the opportunity to play with girls. At the last stream near our farm, I decided to wash my face, hands, and legs to feel fresh. There it happened. My cousin shouted 'sally ya dros over dirty for under' ( the under of your pant is very dirty). removing to check, I discovered that my pant was stained with blood. It was normal since our 'domestic science' madam and my mother had told me.

The main issue at that moment was how i will harvest the pumpkin leaves and pepper i was to harvest. In my culture a woman during her period can't harvest vegetables like pumpkin leaves, huckleberry, pepper and many more. We had been playing the whole time and it will be very late if one person were to harvest the things.

As solution to my two problems i had to stay in water to continue washing away the blood while my cousin did the harvesting all by herself. We got home really late and was beaten by my mother.

Given the situation of that night I could not tell my mother what was happening to me. I slept with no sanitary napkins and in the morning all the bed was stained. My brothers noticed and were running out of the room. i felt ashamed and could not leave the room.

when my mother finally discovered she told me to take my bath and she neatly wrapped toilet tissue and placed it on my pant. I continued this tradition for a very long time before i could use a cotton sanitary napkin.

In my community some people still believe that menstrual blood is a curse since you can't cook for your spouse if he is a titled man reason why the men practise polygamy. Equally menstrual blood brings famine since it is believed to make vegetables to dry off. Thank God many social activists are coming up to address this issue.