MENSTRUATION IS NOT A CHOICE!!

As a woman you know every single month your periods will make themselves known , whether you like t or not. To be shamed for things that are beyond your control is something that can destroy ones soul. I remember when i started getting my periods at the age of 12 , my peers had not gotten them yet, i felt ashamed of my self , like there was something wrong with me, because before i even got to get accustomed to my own periods the whole grade at school was making fun of me, before i even understood what menstruation meant i hated it.

Its not even something i could blame them for, because just as i was not educated they weren't as well. I had no idea why i was on my periods , i was no taught neither at school nor at home , i grew up living with my grandmother who was too busy raising her kid's kids to sit down with me and explain that I would get periods as a girl, until i got them. That's when she taught me everything about periods but at that time i was already scarred even when she told me to celebrate them i didn't listen.

Things like this happen all the time , there are so many women and girls out there who share this story with me , so many women who were made to feel ashamed of their periods , who were made to feel abnormal or sick or crazy the list goes on. i have heard women share their first period stories and none of them were  stories of celebrations, why is it that we're no taught at a young age to celebrate our periods , why are we made o feel ashamed of such a thing that is  beyond  our control, a super power, a nature born blessing.

To make things even worse the sanitary pads here in South Africa are not available for everyone, not everyone can afford them, girls miss school when they're on their periods because they cant afford sanitary pads. The government avail condoms for free but you have to have money in order to get sanitary pads. If you can avail condoms for free why not do the same thing with sanitary pads, periods are no a choice , they are a force of nature something you cant control so then lets not sham each other for having them.

Lets empower each other , especially young girls to not feel ashamed of them. and i really hope at some point we can also convince the government to avail sanitary pads for free for those who cannot afford them.