Menstruation Struggles

I was in class when my first period came, I was not prepared and my desk mate who was also my neighbor gave me her sweater to wrap around together with my own. I was later taken to a toilet and shown how to use cotton wool. The girl also offered me a chance to hide the wool at their house, apparently that was what all the girls in my class were doing, because she had a bag with a padlock where her aunt whom she stays with does not check much!

Getting a cotton wool was very hard, it was not expensive but we could not afford by then. My friends and I opted to use any available material to cover our “shame” from pieces of clothes, papers to mattress. I never got the courage to discuss that with my mum because we don’t have such discussions in my place. We just grow and continue living like people who never experience menstruation. There was nothing like sanitary pad, my young mother did not even know what that was. I could not cut any piece of cloth because I was afraid my mum may find out, so I opted to use my own head scarfs, you can imagine how that can interfere with someone’s walking because it is normally big. I finished up mattresses in our house, actually that was like a shared material, we used to visit each other’s home to cut pieces of mattresses incase yours was worn-out. I remember our neighbors complaining of unseen rats that feed on their mattresses! Those mattresses were so dirty; some had been stained with urine, others totally dusty. Thinking of it right now makes me feel so worried of my reproductive health.

Use of cotton wool was not well convenient either, remembering the fact that we had only a pant which was not well fitting such materials used to drop, I remember a day when stained cotton wool was found in our class and boys were all over laughing and making fun of the person that dropped a “loaf” as they used to call it. I saw a sanitary towel for the first time when I joined high school and my guardian bought several packets. I used only a few and took the rest home for my mum who was excited and starting using it immediately. That was my first open discussion I had with her about menstrual hygiene and I taught her how to use pads.

The situation is still the same with girls/women in my area. We are totally behind when it comes to menstrual hygiene and resources. Just some days ago one of the girls in our group meeting was seated alone on sand. I later found out that is their way of draining blood in that village. They have never had access to panties, so they just wrap clothes and sit on sand when the flow becomes so heavy.

This week alone I got over a hundred requests for pads and panties. Anyone who is willing to donate a pad/panty or collaborate with me in a putting a smile on a girl’s face during this menstrual hygiene day is really appreciated.