2 Districts, 3 Villages, 400 Women in Rajasthan supported with Reusbale Cloth Pad Yearly Sanitation Kits under initiative Spotless Dame

Menstruation Hygiene Management Project done at 3 Villages of Rajasthan impacting life of 400 Women.

For generations, women across the world have used cloth as a sanitary pad. It’s only in the last few decades that the big brands have taken over, in the name of convenience of ‘use and throw’. Yet, even today if you ask most women in a village, ‘How many saris do you have?’ many will tell you, ‘not more than 2-3’. Is it difficult then to imagine how these women manage their menses every month, for years?

 

This is the story of cloth; why it’s important for menstruation and how women suffer even for this basic.

 

PraveenLata Sansthan since its inception is working  to bring this ‘taboo’ subject and the related dire need of cloth into the limelight understanding the need worked with its principles of dignity and matching material to the needs of the women after understanding  a few critical questions, Have women living in villages and slums have accepted the problem solved as easy to find to use Sanitary Pads.

 

During its work throughout 5 years in the ecosystem working to build capacity and creating awareness around Menstruation for more than 5000 Adolescent girls and women it was noticed that 80% of women living in slums, Villages & Urban areas too are comfortable using Cloths during menstruation although the biggest challenge is having no access to clean clothes and not understanding what cloth to be used during menses takes them over various challenges faced because of unhygienic Practices. In addition to its taboos and myths around menstruation became the most unexpected fight to battle while conducting the workshops and it was all about changing of mindsets.

 

These questions touch upon some ethical, practical and non-product aspects of the issue. They connect not just with a woman’s social, physical and psychological health but also the larger well being of village communities. Clarity on these was critical to understand our own strengths, capacities, and role in this issue. The fact is that sanitary pads that are practical, affordable and environment-friendly are still on an experimental level across India.

 

While the majority of Indian sanitary pads market is still held by the disposable commercial sanitary pads, village India still survives largely on old cloth or on unimaginable things like cow dung, sand, ash, newspapers/paper, jute gunny bag, dry grass, plastic or anything or nothing at all.

 

We started a dialogue as the first step to address this issue, apart from providing a better piece of cloth for women, who didn’t have this basic. In the midst of a market full of fancy ‘ultra thin’ to ‘extra large wings’ sanitary pads, Hence Cloth pads thus became a powerful tool for opening up conversations on menstrual health and hygiene with women all across. That’s why Spotless Dame - Celebrate the Reddroplets  the name of our menstrual hygiene initiative run by PraveenLata Sansthan came up in Limelight

 

Praveenlata Sansthan through its initiative Spotless dame, a Program to create awareness on Menstruation Hygiene Management , which is supported by Stone Shippers Ltd implemented its project in 2 Districts of Rajasthan i.e Bundi and Bhilward touching upon 3 Villages Garrda, Kharripur and Makreri creating awareness for more than 500 Adolescent girls and Tribal Women from Bheel and other communities who are from marginalized Communities.The Project was implemented in the supervision of President Awardee Bharti Singh Chauhan who is the Founder of PRaveenlata Sansthan and is also known as Pad women of Rajasthan. The Program was driven out with the support of Local Volunteers, Interns, and Gramin Sakhis.

 

The sessions were conducted in 2 Government Schools i.e Government Senior Secondary School, Makreri and Government Senior Secondary School Garrda for Young Girls to deep drive their knowledge around the hygiene practices taken care during the start of periods and to break the silence and talk about it openly. During the sessions Girls came up with various questions about their periods - Why are my periods not regular? Is it ok if I don't menstruate for 2 months? I didn't menstruate for 4 months. Is anything wrong? Why r we considered impure during those days? which was answered through storytelling, videos, and activities which was conducted in a very attractive way.

 

 A Workshop was also conducted for around 30 workers including ASHA Facilitators,Anganwadi Karyakartas and ANM from 10 villages which was organized in Namana Centre of Garrda District. The organizers and departments involved stated the need to create awareness and sensitization around menstruation is much needed for which they appreciated efforts of Praveenlata Sansthan to introduce the stakeholders about the aspect of women and girls health and well being. During the workshop, the stakeholders were trained om menstrual hygiene and how to maintain clean healthy lifestyle and deal with all kinds of tribal taboos was emphasized.

 

Anju Chiitorah ANM Garrda Village,Bundi District Stated - The villages we are working with doesn't have acess to proper sanitation due to poverty and zero awareness on hygiene among Bhel and other tribal Community who use rags during those days,nor talk about the problems they face and we did not know how to overcome these challanges but after the workshop we realized how to break the silence and encourage women to talk about it and will ensure every women lives a life with dignity to celebrate the reddroplets by takinga additional step to raise awareness about hygiene management and removing misconceptions and taboo around menstruation. Hygiene Kits was distributed after the sessions which was supported by Stone Shippers Ltd.

 

On Ground Live workshops for bheel community was the main attraction specially designed out for Bheels who work in mine,Farms and Narega Project.

 

The Crisis of Menstruation is not just a product.We need to make women confident about sharing their menstrual challenges,Hence its a true need to educate the stakeholders to drive change around the taboo.

 

Many Questions around taboos and myths came up which was very shocking and were addressed  to remove up the misconceptions.

 

After the session around 400 sanitation kit comprising of Reusable cloth pad for 1 year support,Towel and soap was distributed to the women with no access to sanitiation and  live below the poverty line.

 

We or someone in our family has one or more such painful menstrual stories which have left a deep impact on their sense of self or body but no one talks about it.

 

That’s why #letstalkperiods to break the silence and talk with 5 or more people in your own network for a conversation on women’s dignity and menstruation.