Breaking Barriers: 4 Brilliant Ways used by Unipads & TGB Charity to encourage discussion on menstrual hygiene among young girls of rural India
How Unipads & TGB Charity bust the myths related to Menstrual Hygiene in India
BLOGPOST
Just an advertisement on coding classes draws a million dollars From parents in
terms of fees.
But as soon as parents encounter an ad for sanitary pads, The channel gets changed
in an instant.
Those biology classes in 9th Standard when we were To be taught about
reproduction, will be skipped By the teachers for no valid reasons. Ssshhh!
Here, we can’t even talk about basic education on menstrual hygiene, Because that’s
still not a part of our curriculum.
Go to a medical shop and buy a sanitary pad, and You’ll be handed that pack with a
nice wrap of polythene Or newspaper rolled around the pack.
Sounds so Urban. Right?
Don’t even think about these situations in the rural areas of India!
You’ll be stunned to learn that they are yet to enter into mainstream.
By the way, are we just going to talk about this reality or will we ever Jump right
away to help someone in need?
FIRE IN THE BELLY
Small Sparks of New Beginnings
“Wherever you go, no matter what the weather, always bring your own
sunshine.”
-Anthony J. D’Angelo (Author)
Unipads India and TGB Charity came
together to help young adolescent girls of rural and tribal areas. We took up this
initiative to interact with these girls and perform FREE Distribution of 12,000
Reusable Sanitary Pads.
Unipads and all its volunteers also got supported by Saath NGO. They did more than
awareness. They did something even more than that…
EMPATHIZE AND HELP
We feel blessed for undertaking this mission. And now we’ll share with you our
unique approach Of how Unipads volunteers came up with brilliant ways To establish
trust and empathy.
-
Personal Connect:
School going girls of young age and women of rural areas, give more
preference to personal interaction rather than PowerPoint Presentations.
So, we hosted MHM awareness sessions with personal connect as the soul of
our mission. -
Go beyond Blaming:
We are very well aware of the myths and taboos, still prevalent among the
underprivileged areas and villages of our country. -
Bring Readiness:
Most of the young girls talk to their mother about periods only when she
gets the first one at a tender age of 12-13 years. And we realized that
mothers were sharing more about traditions and beliefs, rather than the best
hygiene practices. So, we also invited mothers to join our sessions and
empowered them with knowledge on helping their daughters treat periods as
natural biological process and not a taboo. -
Right to Get Education:
In India, most of the girls in rural and tribal areas, are forced to either
dropout from schools or miss their schools because they don’t have proper
facilities at Schools. Even teachers at rural schools take leave while they
are on periods. So, these young girls have no one to talk to, about
understanding the basics of menstruation. This is where Unipads comes up to
serve them with reusable sanitary pads and a leak-proof carry bag for
carrying these sanitary pads. We even keep these sessions open for teachers.
STILL ON DUTY
Even while you are reading this blog, there are 100s of Unipads Volunteers covering
the entire length and breadth of Gujarat for performing FREE distribution and
awareness sessions in several rural and tribal areas.
FEEL FREE TO TALK
Please feel free to share your queries and questions on Menstrual Hygiene and
periods, with us. If you wish to discuss on a personal level, you may write to us at
this mail id given below.