Menstrual Hygiene 2019: Young school girls go home happy as they receive sanitary packs

Menstruation products don’t come cheap, but for anyone with a period, they’re essential. Women, girls in Nigeria and the world over are forced to resort to toilet paper, old scraps of fabric or absolutely nothing at all during their time of the month. Which is why  Hope and Dreams Initiative celebrates Menstrual Hygiene Day (MH Day) to raise awareness of the challenges people face and open the dialogue on menstruation and distribute menstrual hygiene products to girls in public schools to prevent them from being sexually molested.

This year we want to say no more limits, no more shame on period or towards any girl menstruating. We want to create awareness and involve the boys, men and the whole community. We want everybody to start talking about menstruation, menses or period because it’s a natural thing and it feels cool to have period.

  1. LEA Aleyita Primary School

  2. LEA Kuchigooro Primary School

  3. LEA Kunyami Primary School

  4. LEA Kapwa Primary School

  5. LEA Bassan Jiwa Primary School

  6. LEA Gui Primary School

  7. LEA Chika Primary School

  8. LEA Barwa Primary School

  9. LEA PRIMARY SCHOOL PIWOYI

  10. LEA PRIMARY SCHOOL KUNYAMI

Activities done on that day:

Experience Sharing; This was one of the most exciting activities as it was interactive and at the end, it totally achieved its aim. It was an inter generational sharing session, where adults were invited to share stories of their first menstrual experiences. These stories helped the younger ones feel more relaxed. Young menstruating pupils had the privilege to share their experiences after hearing from the adults.

Painting; This was almost a spiritual time for the kids especially, as they transferred all forms of their emotion to the painting canvas with the paint on it, using brushes, sprays and their bare hands.

Hand Washing Techniques; There was a serious emphasis on hand washing. To handle this activity, children were asked to demonstrate their personal hand washing procedure, afterward, there was a demonstration of the right procedure of hand washing.

Sanitary Packs; Re-usable Pads and underwear were shared accordingly to all menstruating students in attendance. A total of 500 Re-usable underwear and 500 Re-usable pads were given. This segment didn’t stop in sharing it to them, those materials were opened and the process of its usage was displayed in a glamorous manner.

Menstrual Hygiene Talk; We had a menstrual hygiene interactive talk with a medical practitioner. This session took the event to a very professional light and widened the knowledge available.

Drama; The host school presented a drama, unfolding the troubles faced by girls especially with their first menstrual experiences. This drama was an educative play that lasted for minutes yet sowed a seed that can last for a lifetime

A total of 1000 books was distributed to continue with our goal of changing the poor reading culture in Nigeria.

Making the 2018 Global Handwashing Day fulfilling for young Nigerian boys and girls

We delivered high impact event combining both International hand washing and menstrual hygiene celebration on the 15th of October with the theme MY HANDS, MY FUTURE, MY BODY, MY GEM which took place at L.E.A Primary School Aleyita Community, Lugbe, Abuja – FCT. Six LEA primary schools with their teachers in AMAC and Bwari Area Council of FCT were in attendance.

KADUNA TRIP

We also visited three schools in Kaduna and delivered a high impact event on handwashing, behavior change, and menstrual hygiene education. The girls learned about their bodies, the challenges they go through during their menstruation and the importance of washing their hands.

See more photos from the event below.

 

Changing the menstrual experience for young girls in Warri, Nigeria

Hope and Dreams Initiative held an event at PIND conference training hall in Warri, Delta State with 40 students from seven different schools to mark the 2017 International Hygiene Menstruation day Celebration. The schools namely, Toberise BASIC School Oghara, Ogiame Primary School, Dora Numa College, Egbokogdo Secondary, and Primary School, Younna Secondary School. Dr. Elohor Imiruaye of Lee Clinic, Warri in Delta State. Dr. Elohor all joined to mark the event.

The event workshop which followed addressed clearly that the concern that wrong attitudes would continue if girls and boys were not given adequate education concerning menstruation and how to handle challenges associated with it.  A simple explanatory lecture about the significance of menstruation and the importance of keeping clean during and after menstruation was also given.

Faith, a junior student from Tobrise Basic School, Oghara in Delta State, shared her first-period experience with all those in attendance at the workshop.

She said that at first, she thought that she was hurt and was bleeding and she would cut pieces of rags to protect the blood from staining her uniform, but a friend later explained to her that she was menstruating and could get pregnant if she becomes sexually intimate with a boy.

Laura a student from Egbokogdo Secondary School, also shared that she uses rag for her sanitary products and has no access to sanitary pads because her family is very poor.

All 40 students in attendance went home with individual hygiene bags all filled with reusable and disposable sanitary pads, deodorant, and a toothpaste/brush.

In overall, Hope and Dreams Initiative was able to donate 70 hygiene bags to 70 students from 12 different schools.

The goal of the event was to bring young girls from different schools together in a bid to educate them about their menstrual cycle, the importance of Menstruation and other health-related issues and as an organization whose main goals are EDUCATION, MENSTRUATION AND HYGIENE we believe that Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) facilities with soap should be provided in the schools as part of efforts to make them menstrual friendly to encourage girls to be in school during their menstrual periods, since most girls stayed away from school during their menses which consequently affects their academic performance.

And these three key elements are important, which included awareness creation on menstruation and a menstrual-friendly environment in schools, would help empower girls to stay in schools and help improve their academic performance.

We believe that education about Menstruation changes everything and it starts with us.