By Audrey Kanyesigye | Team Leader
Menstruation is a subject that is still not being given the attention it deserves due to majorly the limited access to factual information being shared with adolescent girls, that continues to create a disturbing cycle where mothers will never speak freely about menstruation and when they do, it is just the myths they emphasise.
For so many years, Just Like My Child Foundation- Uganda has shared with and taught menstruation to adolescent girls and their parents in schools and villages through the Girl Power Project®. Girls and their parents have learned in-depth about how their body works regards the menstrual cycle, how to hand sew their own reusable menstrual pads using materials available to them.
Starting this year 2023, JLMC is getting more intentional in how it engages boys in Girls empowerment by helping them to understand menstruation through an in-depth discussion on how a girl’s body works during menstruation, how this information works for them in decision making for a healthier life. During the months of March and April the Girl Power Project® has engaged over 100 boys from 2 school communities of Makonkonyigo and Kyampologoma in Kamira Sub County of Luwero District. Boys have learned that it is possible for girls to get pregnant without having their first menstrual period. One of boys at the end of the session on menstruation shared that “I have made a decision to abstain from sex until I am older” Delaying sexual debut for both boys and girls helps them to exhaust acquiring critical learning and information that will help them to make better decisions about sex in general, and avoiding teen pregnancies, forced child marriage and diseases.
Boys shared that it is important for them too to learn how to make reusable pads so that they can support their siblings to have more sanittary pads during the month, support their schoolmates through the senior woman’s office, and that this information will be useful for them in the future as young men to meaningfully engage with their daughters and wives.
We are thankful for the support from the Belizean Grove- Adventures for the Mind community that has availed funds for us to engage at least 200 girls, 200 boys and 350 parents with the Girl Power Project® this year.
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