9th standard girls report
Many young women have limited information about their monthly cycle. Thamarai team started menstrual education, with the support of the Eco Femme team, because we wanted girls to be informed and empowered in relation to their bodies and their overall health. Initially, the youth facilitators attended training with Kalvi from Eco Femme to deepen their knowledge and to train as menstrual educators. Then we organised 2 sessions with 28 children from different villages and created a cosy sisterhood environment where everyone learned together, shared, and was comfortable to ask questions. This is what the students had to say:
My name is Sona, I am 14 years old and from Annai Nagar village
I enjoyed this class because when this topic comes up I always feel shy to share with others but after this session, I learned this is normal and it’s happening for all the girls, not only me. In the beginning, I got frustrated with my period because every month I lost blood but now only I realise that this is the natural process of my uterus so from now on I won’t feel scared or shy. I enjoyed this session with my friends and facilitators. Now I’m using a cloth pad. I’m trying to avoid sanitary napkins because it takes more than 500-800 years for each one to decompose. I also learned how to overcome myths about menstruation, thanks to this class.
My name is Semmeena I’m 14 years old and studying 9th standard,
I learn about parts & names of my body in Tamil and English, how periods are coming every month and what’s happening in my uterus. I also learned how I can track my period, the products I can use and the effect on the earth. I will use the cloth pads that were gifted to us. In this session, I learned about all the cultural myths related to menstruation. I became aware of it and I will share with others also, I learned how to overcome these myths. Thanks to all who organised this session in Thamarai”
My name is Rathika, I’m 15 years old and from Sanjeevi Nagar village
In this session, I learned the parts and names of my body, how my uterus works, how I’m getting my period each month and about ovulation and the period cycle. I got knowledge about how I can track my periods every month. I became aware of how many eggs we have in our uterus. I enjoyed this session.
My name is Shalini, from Annai Nagar
I enjoyed it when the session started because we all shared our experience about the moment of our first period, the sharing was fun. I learned what periods are and how they come every month, and about my body functions such as white discharge and its purpose. Thank you so much for the cloth pads we received for this class. This class was very fun and I learned a lot.
And here’s what Jagadeswari 26 year old facilitator had to say about the menstrual well being program:
“I learned about my body’s menstrual cycle in this class. It gives me a deeper understanding of body parts. Many girls have menstrual problems, but they don’t know how to solve them, or they don’t share with others because of shyness. I learned all the myths related to this topic. Before I would not talk much about this, but now I’m sharing with students, my sisters and friends, so this is a big shift in me. When I taught the children, I learned how to share this topic with others. Thank you Kalvi so much for organizing this session in Thamarai and thank you to Aahana, an Indian teenager living in the US, who organised a fundraising event with her friends to raise funds for the cloth pads packs. This program is helping me in my life now, so once again, thanks from my heart to everyone who took part and contributed to this program.”