Gender Equality India Project #22035

Training 130 women youth health leaders in Gujarat

by Ahmedabad Women's Action Group

Training 130 women youth health leaders in Gujarat

Project Report | Jul 6, 2016
Two-month report (May and June)

By Kavita Dattani | Communications Officer

Report on Awareness of Hygiene among Adolescents in Radhanpur, Banaskantha District

(May, June 2016)

In the event of a severe heat wave across the area in the month of May, it was not possible to undertake any activity for this project. However, in the following month of June, AWAG rural team conducted six meetings in six different villages of Radhanpur as follows:

1) 9/6/15 - Kamalpur - 39 participants

2) 14/6/15 - Gulabpura - 42 participants

3) 16/6/15 - Shabdalpura - 51 participants

4) 21/6/15 - Sarkarpura - 43 participants

5) 26/6/15 - Shergadh - 32 participants

6) 28/6/15 - Motipipli - 29 participants

Topics of discussions during the meeting at the village level

Awareness on health and hygiene of women
General information on menstruation
Safety/precautions taken during menses
Awareness about uterus and breast cancer and how to avoid the same
Changes in adolescent girl's body with growing years

Meeting in Kamalpur village:

In Kamaalpur village, the meeting was organised at one of the Asha worker's home. Despite the older women were asked not to attend the meeting and an age group criteria was fixed, they nevertheless attended the meeting and expected something in return, direct or indirect benefits.

Women's comments:

Kaniben commented that her daughter suffers through very difficult periods. She undergoes severe menstruation cramps and does a lot of vomiting. The team suggested Kaniben to take her daughter to a local village level healthcare centre and get her diagnosed.
One woman diverted from the topic and said that in the village women are quite afraid and unsure to use copper-T and even condoms. She asked the team to give more information and understanding about the same.
When the team asked the group that will the women buy and use sanitary napkins from one of the women in the village, Kaniben said that women would definitely make good use of it. However, women do not pay money. Even though they have to pay only a token amount of Rupees 5/-. They will only pay if pads are purchased directly from the shop and for this reason, anyone would hesitate to undertake the task of selling sanitary napkins.
The girls who attended the meeting were quite positive about the use and the idea of sanitary napkins being available at their village. They said that if pads are available at AWAG office, they can come and buy it from there
The Asha worker commented that sometime back, the government used to supply free sanitary napkins. Despite that, women wouldn't use it and throw it away. Currently, some women get them from Radhanpur medical shop for Rupees 35/-

Meeting in Gulabpura village: In this village, AWAG team did meeting with students and teachers. Girls of standard eighth and ninth attended the meeting and the teachers too sat with them and took keen interest.

The teachers mentioned that we always advise the girls to make use of sanitary pads for health and hygiene reasons. They also said that should the meeting be arranged on a holiday, more number of girls can attend it
The girls took the meeting very positively. Their response was that we learned a lot of things about hygiene and sanitary pads. The meeting was very interesting and highlighted a lot of aspects that we were ignorant about
In the Gulapura village, Thakor and Parmar community population is more. They do not believe in using sanitary napkins. However, they might use it after this meeting and explanation
At the end of the meeting while talking about domestic violence, women commented that in our village, many women are victim of violence. They have made this part and parcel of their lives. The women said that they will now approach AWAG to change their lives for the better

Meeting in Shabdalpura village: In this village, women were very co-operative and they listened to the team members patiently.

While discussion on domestic violence, Varshaben said that she has been a victim of domestic violence herself and has a daughter. For quite sometime, she has been living at her parents place and wants to bring an end to this problem. For this, she wishes to come to AWAG.
Women in the meeting said that some of us use sanitary pads and some make use of ready made pieces purchased from the market. The pieces that we use, we wash it only once in a day and dry them in a way that other people cannot see it
Hansaben: She said that Chaoudary community girls and women use sanitary napkins and other women from different castes and background do not use it. However now it seems that all women will use it
Women in the village commented that more number of breasts and uterus cancer cases are observed. To avoid it, we will henceforth surely use sanitary pads.
Women said that in our village most meetings are conducted for savings and other things. But this type of a meeting is being conducted for the first time. The meeting was very useful and women were able to have lot of important information.

Meeting in Sarkarpura village:

15-20 women in the village use sanitary napkins worth between the price range of Rupees 50-70
One of the girls from this village, age 21 years has a lump in her right breast. Doctor has advised her to go to civil hospital for diagnosis but she keeps ignoring. Hence the team advised the girl and told her about its seriousness
Women commented that if good quality sanitary pads are available that are better than the ones offered by the government, and below the price range of Rs 25, then we will surely use it and sell it
We are ignorant when our daughters have their periods and finish it. We have hardly paid attention to this point. However, after this training we realise that we should be like friends with our daughters and cherish the relationship

Meeting in Shergadh Village

The meeting in this village was organised at the Sarpanch's house. The comments of the meeting are as follow:

Women were surprised that a meeting for sanitary napkins was organised in their village. They mentioned that never any sort of meeting is organised in their village. The women also discussed issues of domestic violence and breast cancer and shown keen interest to visit AWAG office.

Motipipli

Women were ready to attend regular meetings hosted at the village level and showed willingness to use sanitary napkins.

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Mar 15, 2016
Two-month report (January and February)

By Tasneem Sara | Communications Officer

For the months of January and February, AWAG undertook health and sanitation awareness workshops in the following villages in Radhanpur District (number of attendees displayed):

Chalwada - 35

Bandhwad - 41

Agichala - 37

Pedachpura - 35

Nani Pipli - 52

Vadnagar and Vadnagar school - 42

Sultanpura - 75

Shahpur - 35

Vijaynagar - 36

Premnagar - 25

Bismillahganj - 22

In total in these two months, 435 adolescent girls attended the workshops in the above mentioned villages.

Key objectives of the workshop

Women's health, women's reproductive systems, monthly menstruation cycles
Importance of hygiene
Use and disposal of sanitary towels

In the workshops, the team members of AWAG gave a brief orientation about the organisation followed by session on awareness of domestic violence and primary activities that AWAG is involved in. Thereafter, the main focus of the workshops was on awareness of menstrual health and hygiene. The team explained the side effects of not maintaining appropriate hygiene during menstruation, emphasising the importance of using appropriate underwear and sanitary towels. AWAG staff highlighted ‘myths’ surrounding menstruation, educating women about the topic and against the blind faith that many local women have become accustomed to.

Comments from the workshops:

Many girls said that during their periods they experience severe pain in the uterus because of which they cannot concentrate on studies.
Girls in Vadnagar School commented that many times their periods begin during school time and their uniforms and clothes get spoiled. They feel embarrassed and ashamed and attending school after this becomes impossible.
The teachers in the school said to AWAG's team members that every Wednesday the school provides free-of-cost iron tablets to girls but they do not consume them. The teachers wanted the team members to explain the girls about the importance of the tablets.
Girls said that they were not aware of how not maintaining hygiene during menstruation can lead to deadly cancerous conditions such as skin cancer, breast cancer, cancer of urinary track and cervical cancer.
The girls mentioned that they were excited to use sanitary napkins and switch to better hygiene options.

AWAG's conclusions:

The schools in villages do not provide enough support and information on menstruation and menstrual health. The girls were therefore very happy to learn new concepts.
Most women and girls in the village had already heard about AWAG and its work, hence they showed keen interest in the awareness meeting.
AWAG’s team concluded that convincing village women to use sanitary napkins and panties and help support them in learning about hygiene is a slow and continued process. There is a clear need for this in the villages.

Links:

http://www.awagindia.org

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Jan 19, 2016
Two months report (November and December 2015)

By Divya Madhusudhan | Communications and Fundraising Officer

For the months of November and December, AWAG undertook health and sanitation awareness workshops in the following 12 villages of Radhanpur district, Gujarat, India. A total of 466 adolescent girls attended the workshop in the below mentioned villages -

Name of the village Number of girls attended per village

1) Cherganj 29

2) Dharvadi 54

3) Bhadiya 43

4) Kamalpur 46

5) Badalpura 41

6) Nanapura 21

7) Jetalpura 28

8) Dev 31

9) Palali 30

10) Bilot 45

11) Gotarka 48

12) Nalanda 50

Key objectives of the workshop

Women health, women reproductive system, monthly menstruation cycle
Importance of hygiene
Use and disposal of sanitary towels

In the workshops, the team members of AWAG gave a brief orientation about the organisation followed by awareness about domestic violence and primary activities that AWAG is involved into. Thereafter, the main focus of the workshops were on awareness about menstrual health and hygiene. The team explained about the side effects of not maintaining appropriate hygiene during menstruation, convincing the tribal girls to use panties and sanitary towels. AWAG staff spoke about myths surrounding menstruation, helping them ventilate their worries about diseases associated with it and tried to bring them out from the blind faith and traditions that women in Indian villages are accustomed to, since many years in relation to menstrual health.

Comments from girls who attended the workshops:

Young girls mentioned that they are shy to talk about menstruation to anyone at home and school. They cannot open up when this topic is mentioned and they hesitate to do so.
Girls in the village do not study after seventh standard, once they start menstruating. They mention that the teachers are quite insensitive towards their problem
Girls believe in the old-school concepts of untouchability. During menstruation, they do not worship or attend religious proceedings
Girls were surprised to learn that day by day in most of the villages several women are sufferring from skin, breast and cervical cancer mainly because of lack of hygiene
They mentioned that sanitary towels available in the market are quite expensive. They cannot afford to buy them

Disha, a supposed 9th grader was one of participant in the workshop. She voiced her concern about not being able to go to school since menstruation caused her severe pain, itchiness and ruined her good clothes. She added that her teachers were male and could not understand this kind of issue and therefore dropped out of school . AWAG staff questioned about what she uses as sanitary pad and learnt that she normally used nylon pads stiched from her mothers old clothes. Trainers advocated her to use sanitary pads but affordability was an issue for her. Staff convinced her to atleast use cotton pads till she could afford a low cost disposable pad. Further, AWAG staff spoke to the principle of the school and urged him to readmit disha to school. The school principle was impressed with the kind of workshops we were doing and asked us to conduct one at his school as well. We will be conducting a workshop for his school soon. As you finish reading our first report, you would be happy to know that disha has started to go to school again and is in 9th grade now attending her classes regularly!

Links:

http://awagindia.org/

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