It's said that empowered are those who empower. Being Social – Ek Nai Shuruat is one non-profit organisation, which has been working on an initiative to break the myths and taboos surrounding periods.
They intend to bust the myths including the idea that women are impure, dirty, or sinful while they're menstruating. Some women are discouraged from touching or washing their genitals during their periods to eliminate the possibility that they might contaminate the water of a communal bathing area.
This initiative has been in place since 2017 to normalise periods under the name – Carefree Laado. This program has benefitted more than 8,650 women all across the country.
Recently, on February 28, the volunteers of the NGO assembled at Kinauni village, situated in Ghaziabad, to spread awareness about menstrual hygiene amongst all the women and young girls of the village.
The session started with an awareness talk, in which the volunteers focus on clarifying the myths related menstruation. The awareness talk session described the periods, causes of periods, duration of periods, puberty, etc.
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Following the awareness talk session, there was an interactive discussion between the volunteers and the women of Kinauni village, where they talked about periods from their hearts.
Pooja, an 18-year-old girl from the village came forward and shared her fears openly. She talked about how scared she got when she got her first periods and how she was made to sit aloof while she was on her periods.
Most of the women from the village don't have the access to sanitary napkins. So, the NGO with the collaborative support of Paree, manufacturer of sanitary pads, distributed sanitary napkins amongst the women.
During the event, they were enlightened about the use of pads and were guided about the same. The women were also informed about how to dispose the pad hygienically and that a pad shouldn't be in use for more than 3-4 hours.
Another girl from Kinauni village stood up to say that she will be educating her own kids and her little siblings so that they don't go through the trauma that she went through when her periods started. She further added that the session made her realise that periods are no curse.
75+ women of Kinauni started from being shy to being expressive about their menstrual cramps, pre-menstrual syndromes (PMS), and the problems they faced. They celebrated menstruation and their womanhood throughout the event and were encouraged to celebrate themselves not just for a day but everyday.
