Celebrating Menstrual Hygiene Day - Written by SEGA Form 3 Student, Magreth
In honor of Menstrual Hygiene Day - a global holiday celebrated annually on May 28th which helps break the silence, raise awareness and changes negative social norms around menstrual health and hygiene - we are excited to share with you this blog which has been written by SEGA’s Form 3 student Magreth. Magreth has an interest in being a broadcast journalist when she is older and has written this blog on a topic that is important to her.
Magreth (right) with NM Executive Director, Laura DeDominicis
Menstruation is something natural that happens to every girl. When a girl reaches this stage she begins to experience some changes in her body. But more important is the introduction of a new monthly routine that she will have no means of escaping. In Tanzanian society we say a girl begins to get ‘her periods’.
What I am intending to share with you today is what girls normally face when they come to this stage of growth, but also again to raise a voice to say how we can stop those problems, especially for girls in Africa and more importantly Tanzania.
Generally in Tanzania there is a lack of sanitary towels (menstrual pads) because some parents cannot afford them, and in the end some girls are forced to use some pieces of cloth material which are sometimes not very safe for them. Other times the piece may not be reliable to hold all the menstruation blood or what is referred to as the “dirty” and most girls end up missing a day or two out of school because of her period. Fortunately at SEGA, this is not the case because sanitary towels are available for all students.
In Tanzania some of the washrooms are not very clean and conducive for a girl to feel comfortable enough to go in and make a change of pads over the day, or even wash and dry themselves when they feel all wet because of the lack of water. Thanks to SEGA we as girl students do have access to water and clean washrooms.
Another big problem that some girls also face comes from the way their society perceives that stage of life as soon as they get to it. Some families in African societies tend to believe that a girl at that stage is already a grown up and can even begin to care for a family of her own. So they stop helping a girl with her dreams and get her married off to a man a lot older than she is.
Some other Tanzanian communities take it like a curse period in such a way that when a girl is in that state, she is not allowed to mingle with others or even do any activities at home, including fetching water, cooking and serving food for others, even picking vegetables because they believe she will tarnish everything around her. Some girls in other societies are forced into some traditional rituals like being made to stay inside for a few days with the elder mamas. Then a ceremony is held, when she is finally allowed outside to announce to the whole society that a girl has now matured.
Sanitary Towels donated by Paint the Globe Foundation
But hey, my dear reader; getting a period for a girl is something that is supposed to just bring a sense of awareness to her for her own individual growth. She is supposed to feel as comfortable about it when she reaches that stage as she possibly can. This can easily be done by doing the following:
Providing them with sanitary towels (pads) so she does not have to miss a day out when she is on her periods.
Give her a break with all the unnecessary rituals and beliefs that societies have about this stage of a girl’s life.
Schools that girls go to, need to have the infrastructure such as the washrooms with water taps and enough water tanks to make sure that water is always available for a girl to clean herself up whenever she feels like.
A girl should not be discriminated against in any way when she is on her period. A day for her period should be a day like any other except for the physical conditions that she experiences and knows herself; without the need to tell anyone, unless she knows she has to because of some issues.
Girls need to also be prior informed about these changes so they know what to expect as they are growing.
I say we burn all the discomfort that girls face on their M cycles. A menstruation day is not supposed to be red or blue. It is supposed to be white, a productive day.