The Back Part of my Dress went all RED

27 year ago, Iwas 13in form 2 at secondary school sited in large class of close to 50 students writing our end of year promotion exams.

On that bright Friday morning, I had felt slight pains at the lower part of my belly. I was weak and nauseated and I could not understand what was happening to me.

I had the last part of my exams on that day, so could not miss going to school. The first session of the exams went on well in the morning with no major issue.During break I felt again some slight pains same as what I experience the before.

After 30 mins we went in for the next paper which was the last for the day and the end of the exams. This paper was not difficult for me because it was one of my best subjects, Math. So, I actually finished my paper on time which meant I had to leave the hall earlier.

On standing up to go pass my paper at the teachers table, I heard one of my class mate asking me to sit down. I did not understand why, so I did not obey.

My dress was all red at the back and blood dripped down my left leg. I did not know what had happened because I was highly concentrated on my exam paper. As I stood up and went ahead, another female student who was sited right behind me saw the big stain of blood on my dress. She immediately called my attention and I got frightened. She took off her pullover and tied it around my waist.

At school it was very common to find girls tie pullovers around their waist. It was on this day I understood why they did that. It was a way to cover the blood stains during their periods.

She whispered in my ears that I should go home immediately and tell my mum what had happened. This was the most difficult part, I had never had a discussion about periods with my mum.Feeling very frustrated Iwondered how Iwas to begin the discussion.

However, Imade up my mind and began by showing her my stained dress. That was how Ibroke the silence. It was on this day that my mum was able to tell me all what I needed to know about my periods.

The next year, in form 3, we had a course called sex education. It was during this exciting class that we had the opportunity to get lectures from female our teacher about menstrual hygiene management. Although we were usually very shy our teacher did her best to educate us.

It was thanks to these lessons that we wereto go through that very challenging phase of their lives.

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