Menstrual Hygiene Kits for 1300 orphan girls,India

Until 3-4 years ago, Shreya’s* life in rural Odisha was very normal. Living in one of the child care institutes (orphanages), she used to go to school with her roomies play games such as 'Dog & the Bone', 'Kabbadi' in her free time swinging from the roots of the banyan tree, help younger kids with their studies etc.

Shreya’s life changed within a few months after she turned 13 like most girls of her age she got her first period. The CCI supervisor there took her to one of the rooms, opened an old trunk full of clothes, removed her a large stack of old cotton saris and petticoats, bed sheets etc. For the next few hours, the Supervisor taught her how to fold the piece of cloth into a rectangular strip and use it. This was followed by a list of don’ts which included not entering the kitchen, temple etc.

Like Shreya, there are many girls in Child Care Institutions in rural or urban parts of India, who are unaware of menstrual hygiene and completely unknown to the existence of sanitary napkins.

CSA has been working on menstrual hygiene in 4 states of India. Menstruation and menstrual practices are still clouded by various taboos and social-cultural restrictions resulting in adolescent girls remaining ignorant of the scientific facts and hygienic health practices, which sometimes result into adverse health outcomes.

• We have started reaching out to child care institutions in rural India by spreading awareness about menstrual hygiene
• We have designed aawareness sessions using our approach of fun, games and positive communication, for the training of teachers/trainers as well as of adolescent girls
• Around 1000+ girls are being educated and trained under this program
• One of our key focus areas was to enhance the basic knowledge that girls and adolescent girls have around managing their periods safely by using the right kind of sanitary products & care (e.g. changing their pads every 6 hours, keeping the area dry and clean, not using expired products)

Apart from this, thrust is also laid on helping them realize that menstruation is a normal process and a sign of good health and one shouldn’t be ashamed about it and stay strong and fight through the social stigma like ninjas.

 *Name changed to protect identity of child