Girls Glory - Improve Menstrual Health in India

After their summer break, students at government schools have returned to class. We are more than eager to begin our work as change agents at this time of year. We are very appreciative of donors like you who give us the confidence to encourage girls to continue their education, which in turn lowers absenteeism in schools.

During this quarter, we collaborated with 4 government schools in urban and rural areas of Bangalore. Through the Girls Glory Project, workshops on WaSH & MHM for girls were held. The WaSH awareness program was presented to 653 pupils this time. The significance of maintaining toilet cleanliness and keeping oneself clean was stressed to beneficiaries.

Important lessons for pupils...

The need of maintaining personal hygiene, taking regular showers, and the fact that brushing one's teeth is just as crucial as dressing in clean clothes was taught to all students. "Be a Boss, always brush & floss" was the rhyme we taught them to rhythm. Additionally, we instructed them on how to maintain proper hydration, by consuming a good amount of water in order to remove any toxins from their bodies. The students were thrilled to discover all of this in an enjoyable way.

All of the children were given a brief introduction to the basic handwashing practices. Wash, Wash, Wash—especially after using the restroom and before eating. The proper way to sneeze and cough was also discussed with the students.

The need of eating a balanced diet full of fresh produce, whole grains, and lean meats to energize the body and strengthen the immune system was stressed to the children. We talked about getting enough sleep and cutting back on screen time because our bodies need time to recover and regenerate.

As the saying goes, "Cleanliness is next to godliness," thus keeping surfaces that are touched frequently clean and germ-free can also be a healthy habit to develop.

 A step toward advancement...

 Four schools had menstrual hygiene awareness programs. Nearly 653 girls were able to receive our message. The significance of period hygiene, proper disposal of sanitary napkins, and the misconceptions and taboos surrounding menstruation were explained to the students. The workshop is conducted in a simple to understand manner for an adolescent age group because of the way Reaching Hand has developed it.

Before we began discussing a sensitive and uncommon issue, we conducted an icebreaker to help these young girls feel at ease. Then we instructed them on how to use a sanitary pad and discussed puberty, premenstrual symptoms, misconceptions and taboos, hormones, the menstrual cycle, Etc.,

All pupils receive a period hygiene kit and a comic book about menstrual hygiene. We have noticed that this book is empowering all the girls to be confident and get over the timidity that comes with being a girl in their neighborhood.

The workshop was finished with a lesson on understanding one's body.

In the making…

In Bangalore's rural area, 19 new toilet units are being built. They will be accessible to 1269 beneficiaries in all.

Future Plans

To make it easier for pupils to attend school without difficulty, we intend to construct many more restrooms and educate many more children.

Once again, we want to express our gratitude to all our supporters without them are effort would not be possible. Their kindness has benefited us and impacted our project. 

Reaching Hand has always been empowering communities over a decade. The journey has been fruitful. Our Girls Glory project focuses on teaching young adolescent girls the way forward to live a clean and healthy life. In the last quarter, through this project we have been able to organise Health & Hygiene workshops in 11 government schools, approximately 2255 children have been beneficiaries of the same.  

As the saying goes “Good health & good sense are two life’s greatest blessings”. It is health and contentment that we, as human beings require to live a comfortable life. Keeping this in mind, we teach young girls and boys the importance of hygiene and sensitise them on water, sanitation & hygiene. We conduct the WaSH awareness program. We orient children on the importance of cleanliness and personal hygiene.

WaSH awareness program & Menstrual hygiene program :

Sensitization covers the following:

• How to use public restrooms
• Personal hygiene including the importance of washing one’s hands
• Getting rid of germs to prevent water borne diseases.
• Oral hygiene

Along with sensitization program, we conducted Menstrual hygiene awareness program for young adolescent girls in these  government schools. The sole purpose was to educate these girls who come from low family backgrounds about the safe disposal of menstrual waste, the myths & taboos about menstrual hygiene and the importance of keeping one’s self clean during their menstruation. At the end of every session a comic book for children called as Menstrupedia was distributed. The children enjoyed the read aloud sessions we did with them.

Under the Girls Glory project we also built 62 new toilets in the rural area.  This will help a total of 4375 Beneficiaries. When one child is benefitted, a school is educated, when there is awareness around that locality,  a community is benefitted.

Post Project Management :

A] Post management workshop for schools’

Once the toilets were built, we did an assessment of our initiative. Coincidentally it was Women’s Day, we  organised a workshop for atleast 25 teachers and their Principals . The celebration started with an icebreaker game for the teachers and went on to sessions on post project plan and implementation for their school. Thus, encouraging the school to live a clean and sustainable life.

 B] WaSH Committee Group Initiative

After each workshop we conduct in the school, we set up a WaSH committee where school children are initiated and made leaders in charge of hygiene and sanitation. Children are taught how to handle this committee.

A story of change

Riya, a student of one of the Government schools. Enthusiastically raised her hand and volunteered to head the WaSH committee. She was shy and believed in the Myth that one should not enter the kitchen to cook on their period, but after she attended the workshop organised by Reaching Hand, she now has the knowledge of puberty and menstruation. She is bold, fearless and has helped her classmates to think positively towards Menstrual hygiene. She tells them  : “Always be Clean”