Girls Glory - Improve Menstrual Health in India

Greetings from REACHING HAND!

Entering into the second month of the year 2019 and Reaching Hand ’Girls Glory' program has been progressing extremely well with more corporate vouching the program in other Government Schools owing to the quality of work and impact on the beneficiaries. |We are extremely thankful to you for your generous contribution and supporting us in our journey. You have been the unseen strength and motivation behind out Girls Glory - (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH)) program

Highlights of the Past Quarter- REACHING HAND impacted over 6,405 students

- 43 new toilets were constructed in 18 schools benefiting 2,761 adolescent girls

-3 RO Water filters installed will provide safe drinking water to 1097 students

-MHM workshops were conducted in 12 schools and WASH(Health & Hygiene) workshops were conducted in 15 schools benefiting over 5,271 students.

-36 toilets were renovated in 17 schools benefiting 3,644 boys.

-Maintenance of 28 previously constructed toilets of schools was also monitored and immediate repair works were catered to in the last 3 months.

-Parents Teachers meetings were conducted in 54 schools to understand and enhance the importance of parents influence in educating the child.

Hear from a student beneficiary- Rajeshwari Gujjar is a student of 8^th grade in GMPS Doddagollarahatti. Rajeshwari is shy and introvert by nature. She seldom takes part in sensitive topic discussions. Reaching Hand team took a session on ‘Menstrual Hygiene Management’ on 7^th December, 2018 for the female students of her class.

Rajeshwari says, “I was feeling very embarrassed initially. Further into the session valuable information was shared about ‘Menstrual Management & Hygiene’ that made me ponder about the current taboos associated with Periods. I voluntarily discussed about the silly beliefs and practices followed form generations in my community. We girls fear menstrual cramps more than anything. The RH team educated us on how to make the pain bearable so that we can come to school on those days too.”

Moving Ahead- As we move forward we are determined to break more such Taboos associated with Menstrual Management and Hygiene and create awareness about the best practices during the monthly periods. We also continue to built toilets for adolescent girls, empower and educate them about the importance of not missing classes.

We are very thankful for your continuous support and look forward to the same through our journey ahead.

Greetings from Reaching Hand!

Reaching Hand is extremely thankful to our donors for their continuous support throughout the last quarter. We are excited to share the highlights of the events and activities of the previous quarter so that you can view the impact you have created in the community in the southern states of India. You have impacted by giving a dignified schooling for adolescent Girls by addressing the issue of menstrual taboos, absenteeism and school drop-out and both genders by pushing for a behavioral change in hygiene and sanitation.

Awareness and Acceptance towards CHANGE:

Especially when girls attain the age of puberty, they face enormous amounts of issues due to lack of toilets, taboos in the society, lack of proper knowledge about changes in their body and how to care for themselves. This is directly results in lack of self-confidence, absenteeism and School Drop outs.

Listen to Ayesha’s story. Ayesha is in 5^th grade in one of the government school in the south state of India. Her parents are migrants to Bangalore, and work as daily laborers to educate their children.

Ayesha says, “Initially in my school there was a toilet but the walls were broken and water supply was rare. As I matured matters became more difficult as risk of infection was more. I have read about, the dangers of open defecation, being an unhygienic practice and the dangers of insect bites and snake bites. I was hesitant to attend school since no proper sanitation started disturbing my daily life”.

It was then that ‘Reaching Hand’ intervened and built toilets specifically for girls and renovated existing toilet for the boys. They also took periodic awareness sessions on ‘Health and Hygiene’ and ‘Puberty and Menstrual Management’ which helped us understand the changes our body undergoes as we attain puberty and the importance of maintaining good health and hygiene.

Ravichandra,4^thstd-Govt High school Babusapalaya says,'Reaching Hand inaugurated 4 toilet units, under Girls Glory program in my Govt. Higher Primary school at Babusapalaya. The toilets are based on high tech module with ample water facilities available. It is a great help to all the students in the school.My friends and I am thankful to Reaching Hand and for their timely intervention'.

In the next quarter Reaching Hand will focus on constructing more functional toilets in the schools lacking them and assure the maintenance of the constructed toilets by re- painting of toilets, cleaning, plumbing repairs and replacement of damaged accessories. Health and Hygiene workshops will continue as in the previous quarter. Corrective maintenance of toilet units constructed and renovated will be done. We will conduct workshops for Students on H&H and MHM and distribute Puberty and Health and Hygiene kits. We will empower and create awareness to SDMC and HM too.

Reaching Hand believes in instilling moral values, providing education and love as the three main ingredients to help a proper development of a child.

We look forward to your support to impact the lives of many more students in these government schools .Please do visit our office when you are in Bangalore so we can take you to these schools to hear and experience the joyof these students for providng them their basic needs. Thank you form the bottom of our heart.