Hope comes to young girls in Abuja, Nigeria as they learn about menstruation

May 28, 2017 was observed globally as Menstrual Hygiene Day. It is generally considered to be a global opportunity for partners across all sectors to engage in awareness, advocacy, and knowledge sharing around the importance of menstrual hygiene management.

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Hope and Dreams Initiative celebrated with girls in FCT Abuja and Warri, Delta State. It organized a TED interactive talk at the FCT Education Resource Centre, City Library, Abuja on the theme: “Education to create awareness among girls on the need to observe hygiene during their menstrual period through sharing of our period experiences”

Students from different schools within Abuja and Warri were all present for the event. Students from schools such as Queen Amina college, LEA Primary School, Aleytia, LEA Primary School, Gosa and Government Girls Secondary School Kaduna all shared their period experiences and read a poem about periods.

The girls in attendance all seemed very excited to be at the event, but did not hold back, as they shared their sad realities about how they had no knowledge about menstruation. They cited their first experiences and said that it was very challenging for them. They also said that they often hid their experiences from their parents and resorted to using rags and tissues because they had no money to buy sanitary pads.

11 Years old Amina who also shared her heart touching experience, said that she personally used rags because she is from a single parent home and her mother has no money to buy sanitary pads for her.  She was particularly happy to have received our hygiene bag filled with sanitary pads, deodorant, toothpaste/brush and soap.

In overall, the event saw 30 students from 5 different schools from the northern parts of Nigeria received hygienes bag with sanitary pads, deodorant, toothpaste/brush, and soap.

In the event’s final remarks and roundup, Mr. Anais who is a teacher from one of the schools in Kaduna, called for increased public awareness to eradicate the misconceptions, myths and negative perceptions about menstruation and expressed gratefulness to Hope and Dreams Initiative for organizing a wonderful event.

Taking Hand washing to another level for young students in 2017

On Global Hand Washing Day, we joined partners around the world to celebrate the importance of handwashing with soap as an effective and affordable way to prevent diseases and save lives.  This years’ celebration themed“Our Hands Our Future” was celebrated in six schools we have been working with, from Monday 16th- Friday 20th October 15, 2017.


Our WASH team visited partner schools, sensitizing their students’ WASH clubs on

  • Why It is Important for us to wash our hands with soap.

  • When to wash our hands, especially the critical moments

  • How to wash our hands

  • How proper hand washing habit reduces ones’ chances of contacting monkey pox

Hope and Dreams Initiative celebrated the Global Hand washing day with six schools with the participation of 782 students. Drama and poetry were performed by students, as they demonstrated the importance of hand washing with soap.

This celebration was enjoined and participated by 6 schools in Delta State Nigeria, Namely:

  • Dore-Numa College, Warri

  • Yonwuren College, Warri;

  • Ogiame Primary School, Warri;

  • Otsoron Primary School, Egbokodo Warri;

  • Egbokodo Secondary School, Warri

  • Tobrise basic Secondary School, Oghara, Delta State.

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.