taboo subject menstruation – reusable sanitary pads
Girls have very little or no knowledge about reusable sanitary pads, and also do not know about personal hygiene during menstruation. In rural areas, women and girls often do not have access to sanitary products, know very little about the types and methods of use, or cannot afford such products due to the high cost. In the mountains, girls and women still often use old scraps of cloth, which are buried or thrown away after use. These are then often dug up again by dogs, monkeys and wild boars.
People often avoid topics related to menstruation and how to deal with menstrual hygiene. Menstruation is a silent issue in girls’ lives that also affects the school environment. Between the ages of 10 and 13, the situation unfortunately worsens for girls due to a lack of knowledge about preparing for and dealing with menstruation or due to shyness and shame. 60% of girls stay away from school during the time of their menstruation, lose a lot of learning material and even drop out of school for this reason.
In many schools, both male and female teachers are unwilling to talk to students about menstruation and menstrual hygiene.
This project aims to prepare girls on the topic through trained counselors, to understand menstrual practices, and to learn about reusable sanitary pads and how to use them.
For all these reasons, Lankahelp trains female counselors to start an awareness campaign in schools.
The first step is to educate about the body, menstruation, hygiene during menstruation and how to use sanitary pads.
The second step is the education about the handling of the reusable sanitary pads, their cleaning and storage.
Since the climate in the mountains is sometimes extremely humid, we have developed special reusable sanitary pads together with Mayomi from the women’s initiative. These are produced by Mayomi and her women.
Taboo subject menstruation – our visit 2024
When visiting the project manager and lawyer Mr Cyrilraj, we noticed that everything is perfectly organised. There are currently 2,600 sets of sanitary towels in the warehouse, which will be used up in the next 4-5 weeks. The three-part awareness seminars with trained seminar leaders are still taking place.
The project has started very well. Initially, Mr Cyrilraj had to ask the schools for appointments and hold the seminars after school hours. Now, at the request of the school headmasters, the seminars are held during school hours. The waiting list for schools, villages and tea plantations has grown long.
Thanks to the initiative of “our” seminar leaders, groups of 18-25 women have been formed who now do most of the preparatory work so that the seminar leaders only have to organise the seminars. Networks have been created in which the groups of women stay together and discuss how they can help the community. For example, they support each other with clothes for births and use their contacts to exchange ideas with other groups.
We visited two different women’s groups in remote tea plantations. The journeys are sometimes adventurous, as the villages can only be reached by three-wheeler. The roads are too bad for cars. The women are already waiting for us and tell us that these seminars are very important to them. The women in these villages cannot afford hygiene products, especially when there are 2-3 girls in the family. They are desperately waiting for the education seminars and the sale of sanitary towels.
To our astonishment, we met the leader of a women’s group in this remote area, a political scientist. She told us that the women’s groups that had been set up were planning to organise other seminars, such as children’s rights and women’s rights. What “our” seminar leaders have achieved is fantastic. Women all over the region are joining forces and helping each other!
Visit to the training course for instructors
